


Love's Language

by thesassmaster



Category: Dark Blue Kiss, จูบให้ได้ถ้านายแน่จริง เร็วๆนี้ | Kiss Me Again: The Series (TV), รักต้องจูบ ย้อนหลัง | Kiss: The Series (TV)
Genre: A good boyfriend, Boyfriends, But also, Canon Compliant, Communication, Established Relationship, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Gifts, I eliminated Non because this is my story, Kao being a soft boyfriend, Love Languages, M/M, Pete being better, Quality Time, Slight Canon Divergence, Words of Affirmation, acts of service, and I'm sick of him, how to tag, physical touch, spoiling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:48:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21736015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesassmaster/pseuds/thesassmaster
Summary: Kao is determined to be a better boyfriend to Pete which leads him to trying to discover Pete's love language, believing this is the best way to spoil him.
Relationships: Kao/Pete (Kiss: The Series)
Comments: 66
Kudos: 356





	1. How Does Love Speak?

**Author's Note:**

> This was born strictly from my need for fluff after last episode. That's it. I just wanted fluffy boyfriends being fluffy. And I want Kao to be better to Pete and Pete to be better to Kao...I just want things to be better okay! I eliminated Non because I'm so sick of him and I can't take the teasers for next ep, so bye bye Non!  
> Also the timeline is fuzzy here because I sort of avoided the fight the boys had last episode and I'm definitely ignoring next weeks nonsense. And the secrecy about their relationship was sort of a vehicle for this. So for story's sake let's say, Pete and Kao had a fight with just Non so he's gone but there was no fight at the school so people don't know for sure that they're together...it might come up later, it might not who knows, not me!  
> This is the intro and then there will be five chapters after I think, discussing each language and how Kao uses it with Pete.  
> Thank you in advance for reading and let me know any thoughts maybe, I'd like that a lot! xxx

In Kao’s relationship he had always thrived on knowing that Pete loved him and making sure that Pete knew he loved him too. He’d never given much thought to the ways in which that happened. They just told each other. And they’d loved each other for so long it was just sort of a constant.

He assumed that that was normal because he’d always considered them a very normal couple. Even though they hid their relationship from their friends and his family, when it was just them, they were like any other couple. With maybe a few differences here and there.

They weren’t overly affectionate, but they had sex a normal amount, they talked about their feelings occasionally, most often when pressed or under stress. They were good to each other, attentive when it was just them two and different albeit still sweet when they were with other people. They went on dates and had sleepovers and had shared so much together in their brief lifetimes that being with each other made more sense than being without.

Overall, Kao didn’t think there was anything wrong. He knew there were some problems. He knew Pete wanted people to know, was desperate for that even but he’d promised to be patient for him, for that. They both knew it’d be worth it. But in the interim, he wondered if he could be doing more for him. More to keep Pete extra happy, extra in love while he waited. Maybe that was silly, but he wasn’t so selfish that he didn’t recognize the sacrifices that Pete was making for him and his fear of rejection.

He wanted to be the ultimate boyfriend to him because Pete loved him and bent for him and deserved it. He had his flaws sure, but he was also really, really good to him and Kao wanted to spoil him a little.

Just a little though.

xxx

It started with three of his students oddly enough. He came back from getting a refill, smiling at the way P’Sun was spinning away from the register to hang over Mork’s shoulder, blinding grin transforming his face into this happy, radiant thing he hadn’t seen in ages on him --- to hear the girls conversing about love languages of all things. They were still on their five-minute break, so he didn’t scold them or interrupt, just took out his phone and tried not to listen, though that was way harder than he anticipated.

They were going on about someone named Off and how his language was probably physical touch while Pin argued that it wasn’t, it was definitely gifts. The way they were going at it was making his head spin a little and though he wasn’t really listening to the intricacies, the bare bones of their conversation got him thinking.

He didn’t know Pete’s love language.

They’d been together three years and he couldn’t really identify which his would be. What things got his heart beat ticking extra fast? What would get the best response? Pete was very physical and he thrived off being close to him, he knew that but he was also so much more. He was everything. Why didn't he know how to love him best?

Maybe that was it. He could try to figure out Pete’s love language by spoiling him, taking him out to eat, giving him a spontaneous gift, spending lots of time with him and see what made him happiest.

It was, without a doubt, a win-win. One way, he found out the way to completely situate himself in Pete’s heart for the foreseeable future by speaking his language and loving him the best way possible. The other, he didn’t figure it out, but he got to spend more time with his boyfriend, got to, at the very least see him happy.

His musings were cut off when the girls burst out laughing at whatever had just been said and didn’t calm down for a few seconds, not till Kao called them back. Their focus returned to the test questions he'd given them but he remained distracted. He was caught up thinking about the best ways to surprise Pete. It was just so exciting okay? Thinking of all the ways he could go about figuring out how to love Pete in better, newer ways, it was kind of consuming. It wasn’t his fault!

How was he supposed to think about equations when Pete’s smile was stuck so firmly in his mind instead?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words of Affirmation is first, go be a good boyfriend Kao, I'm rooting for you!


	2. With Words of Affirmation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seemed easy enough because his boyfriend liked to be complimented and had a bit of an ego to feed but he wanted to go a little further with it now. He didn’t want it to just be an ‘oh you look nice today,’ he wanted to be supportive, sweet and unexpected. He could do that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember this is Kao and this is his first step. I think he'll get better as we go and opens up more to being more blatantly Pete's boyfriend!!
> 
> I hope you like it :) xx

First came words of affirmation.

It seemed easy enough because his boyfriend liked to be complimented and had a bit of an ego to feed but he wanted to go a little further with it now. He didn’t want it to just be an ‘oh you look nice today,’ he wanted to be supportive, sweet and unexpected. He could do that. This was turning out to be an exercise for him too. In how to be romantic and spontaneous. It was weird and different for him but he also kind of liked it. Which was even weirder.

xxx

They were doing their homework, spread out on Pete’s bed with their worksheets in front of them while Pete groaned and yanked at his hair. Clearly frustrated. Kao smiled, feeling bad that he was struggling so he leaned over to see if he could help.

Pete’s annoyance with his homework beat him to it though.

“I quit, it’s so hard and stupid,” he groaned, shoving the papers away from him, “I can’t do it,”

Kao swallowed the teasing comment he had loaded. Second nature, honestly and stuck to his plan. Calm, supportive, encouraging, appreciative words.

“Yes, you can, let’s try a different problem,” he reached over to touch the back of his head, fingers disappearing in his thick hair while he stroked gently, trying to coax him back to his homework. It worked remarkably quick, even quicker than he thought it would as Pete only groaned one more time and rolled back over to look at the papers again. He was closer to him this time, shoulders pressed tight together.

Pete picked up his pencil and tried the other problem, listening to Kao’s explanations as he went before pushing the paper to him to check his work. He was looking at him expectantly.

“Yeah, good,” he felt himself clam up. Why was it so hard to talk to him like this? Compliments weren’t supposed to make him feel so ridiculous, were they? Maybe he just knew Pete so well and knew he’d tease him like crazy if he was super sweet or sappy.

But if he couldn’t give him the tiniest compliment, the littlest bit of support, what kind of boyfriend did that make him? The same mediocre one Pete had been living with for three years now? Great.

He had to do it. It wouldn’t be so bad and if Pete teased him, he’d just bail on the compliments and tell him to shut up. Words of affirmation probably weren’t his love language anyway.

Kao cleared his throat and said, “I knew you could do it,”

He felt his own ears flame red, refusing to look at his boyfriend who wasn’t saying anything at all.

“Will you help me with the other one?”

Kao looked over at him to see that Pete was focused completely on his homework. Maybe he hadn’t heard him.

“Sure,” he said, leaning closer to help him work it out after he’d sorted through his confusion enough to be helpful. It took a little longer for Pete to work that one out, but he smiled so wide afterward that it made Kao smile too, he was so proud of himself that it made Kao proud too.

“See, not so bad right?”

“Not so bad,” Pete agreed, chin hitting his chest when he looked back down.

“I knew you’d get it, you’re so smart,”

Pete swatted at him, huffing, “what’s with you huh?”

Kao sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and shook his head. He’d feared this confrontation, knowing he’d lash out about it because Pete loved to tease him. Much to his own shock, Pete didn’t say anything else, just went back to his homework, quietly asking for help or for him to check when he finished a problem.

When he was going to leave that night, it hit him that he shouldn’t just be supportive to Pete as a person but say things that showed he valued their relationship too.

Pete’s dad was on the couch which gave him a tiny bit of anxiety, but he knew about them and this wasn’t about Kao, this was about Pete. He could do it for Pete.

He turned around, nearly making Pete collide with him where he was trailing to walk him out. It wasn’t in his initial plan but the tiny space between them gave him a boost, so he grabbed Pete’s shoulder to pull him closer. It made him smile seeing his eyes bulge before he kissed his cheek.

Pete looked shocked but thrilled. And even more so when Kao reached to fiddle with his ear, “finish your homework okay, I’ll check it for you before class,”

Pete nodded dumbly, looking like his life had just been made right there.

“I love you,”

His boyfriend gaped but because he was Pete, he collected himself and stepped forward, kissed him full out without any hesitation at all. Kao gave him a second of it before pushing him away. He was trying to figure out Pete’s love language sure and was pushing his own limits in the process, but he was still himself, things wouldn’t change for him in a day alright. He was trying though. He was.

“I love you too,” Pete said proudly, still attempting to trap him against the closed door, pouted fully at him when Kao was quicker. He ducked under his arm and got the door open, rushing outside with a “see you tomorrow,”

On his way down the steps he heard Pete sigh, “Kao loves me Dad,”

To which his dad laughed, “I heard Pete,”

xxx

Kao started sending Pete texts too, to wish him a good day or luck on a test even though he’d see him because he needed to make sure he knew he was valued and loved and seen. If he was quiet at lunch or after a tough lesson, he’d send him one, maybe just a couple stickers or hearts to keep him going. At first, he wondered what Pete would say or do but more often than not he’d catch him smiling at his phone, tucking back into his lunch or his homework without complaint or issue. Sometimes he’d knock their shoulders together or give him a look but that was rarer than the smiles his gentle attention brought out of him.

He liked this Pete. Liked happy, calm Pete. But even more than that, he liked knowing he was making Pete like this. It was a nice little head rush, making his boyfriend happy, loving him and making sure he knew in little, not so obvious ways. There were certainly things to be desired in their relationship but for now, there was this. It was theirs and Pete seemed okay with that.

He also loved utilizing the stuffed bear he’d made for the About ABoyz campaign. The bear he’d given to Pete to practice his speech with was theirs. And he’d taken to recording a new message anytime he was over at Pete’s, leaving the bear on his pillow so he’d be interested or tempted to check it. Kao had a feeling that Pete had caught on to all this but never said anything about it.

Maybe he liked hearing how much Kao loved him, how much he needed him in his life to be happy because he never did anything to discourage Kao’s new interest in being open with him.

They needed openness. And honesty after all they’d been through and it was nice being able to give him such a simple thing. Love him the way he deserved. Rid him of his worries and stress.

It was nice and easy to fall into. Easier than he thought it’d be, confessing things and putting himself out there for Pete. It made him feel bad that he hadn’t been committing to romantic acts and words the whole time they’d been together. What had he been doing instead? Worrying that Pete wouldn’t love him the same if he knew how much Kao loved him? It didn’t make sense now and he wondered how he’d rationalized that to himself months ago. Even just being like this for a couple short weeks, he was used to it, addicted to making Pete feel his love and he couldn’t see giving it up now.

xxx

He made a point to start listening more too. Be more understanding when Pete was worked up or in a mood. There was a reason behind them, and he owed it to his boyfriend to be patient, let him get to the bottom of it and not rush him when he was feeling things.

Of course, this applied to Non, his lies and the tutoring nonsense that had nearly wrecked their relationship, but it applied to everything else too.

He tried to encourage Pete to talk more, express the things that were bothering him so they could get through them.

Like his internship, for instance. He was a mess about that. Because it wasn’t just a chance to get a job and build relationships. It was about his dad and his family and the rest of his life. Pete wanted to make people proud and he was terrified of not being enough, of disappointing others. Kao felt for that.

But when Pete talked, he didn’t interrupt. He didn’t make his problems about his own, he just wanted Pete to know he had an ally in this. A partner. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Tonight, it seemed his stress was more focused on the future in general, with the weight of exams coming up and projects due. Those things crept closer every day and so did internships and all the anxiety that came with it for Pete.

So, they talked about how to better deal with his worries. Take every test, every class, every application one at a time. He couldn’t be thinking about ten other upcoming things because that made it worse. Kao tried to help him unwind from that.

He listened as Pete told him he didn’t want to be compared to his cousins or his dad’s friends’ kids, they were different people with different interests and paths. He listened when he expressed how scared he was of those comparisons because they made, the fear of losing his dad, his respect, his love, all too real.

That was something that would never happen but for Pete it was real. And he needed to get it out. Kao could tell how truly bothered his thoughts were making him by the way his voice got quiet, timid even, while he talked. He wouldn’t interrupt so he squeezed his hand instead, where they were linked between their bodies on Pete’s bed. It was a simple way to show him he was still there. Not going anywhere. He would listen anytime, no matter what, for Pete.

A point he expressed when Pete unwound himself a bit, calmer after talking where he laid quietly beside him, hands still linked between them.

“You can always talk to me Pete,”

“I know,”

“I’m not going anywhere okay? I’ll be right here to listen, always,”

Pete smiled, “I know that too,” he took a breath while his eyes roved over his face then added, “thanks,”

Kao turned to look at him, “Of course,”

“I really needed that,”

Kao rolled to him, kept their hands together as he shuffled a bit closer, “I could tell,”

“Oh yeah?”

He hummed, “you get a little scrunch between your eyes,”

“Really? Great, I don’t need a tell!”

“You have a couple,”

Pete groaned but didn’t comment, moved so their feet were touching under the covers. His arm lifted to drape over Kao’s waist, pulling him closer as Kao’s fingers moved to his head, started playing with Pete’s ear. That always lulled him to sleep. But Pete didn’t seem interested in sleep yet, still worked up a little bit.

“I don’t want my dad to buy my way into an internship, or use his connections to get me ahead,”

Kao watched the scrunch come back, pressed his thumb there to smooth it away.

“If I get into T-Power I want to do it on my own, I don’t deserve it otherwise you know?”

Kao smiled at him, “you should tell him that Pete. Even though he wants to help, he’d respect you wanting to make it on your own. I think that says a lot about you,”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, it’s very impressive that you want to do this without his help, this is your life and your future, it’s nice to see you taking charge of it. You can do anything Pete, absolutely anything and you’ll be great at it,”

It said a lot about the headspace Pete was in that he didn’t push him or tease him or make a snarky comment about how gentle and sweet he was being, instead he pulled Kao so close they didn’t have any other option but to recycle each other’s air.

“You believe in me that much?”

“I believe in you completely,”

Pete blinked. Smile broke over his face, making him even more handsome before he was leaning in to kiss him. His hands pulled as his waist, fingers dipping under his shirt to touch his skin while Kao kept his hands on his face and in his hair. Pete was insistent, demanding and so warm that Kao had a really, really hard time pulling away from him. He managed after several minutes with a whine that had Pete groaning and chasing him.

“It’s late Pete,”

“So?” Pete shifted, laid him back to hover over him, “you started this,”

“I did not!”

“You did, you can’t be so nice to me, remind me I have the sweetest boyfriend on the planet and expect me not to jump you, I’m only human babe,”

Kao laughed, thought about arguing some more because that’s what they did but ended up allowing himself to be manhandled back and taken full advantage of. Let’s just say, for the record and the sake of Kao’s investigation, a fluffed up, loved Pete was extremely attentive. And incredibly thorough.

Like wow.

 _Wow_.

xxx

Kao could definitely make a case for Pete’s love language being words of affirmation. From his brief experiments, he could tell Pete liked the attention, liked being told he was good and getting better and worth it. But since he hadn’t tested any of the others yet, he couldn’t be sure that this was it.

If it was, Kao could get used to complimenting him and being in his corner. He was already there it just required him to be more active and a little more attentive. And Kao could stand to practice honesty for Pete’s sake, be more up front with what he was feeling, when he was feeling it instead of shying away all the time.

On his end, Pete would get better at receiving declarations from Kao, would flourish under his attention and devotion which would improve their relationship in the long run.

And Kao, for his part as Pete’s boyfriend would continue vetting the honest, random way Pete had of telling Kao he loved him. It was always like that for him it seemed, he declared his feelings without hesitation. Being his boyfriend was as easy as breathing for Pete. Kao hoped, for both their sakes, that that would happen for him too.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be giving Pete more compliments and just being there for him. And he’d always texted him, checked on him throughout the day, but this was more. This was actively being his boyfriend. Actively loving him, talking to him like they were in a relationship and not just best friends. This was appreciating him because he was there and his and made him really happy.

So, whether it was his love language or not, Kao would continue supporting him, continue speaking to him kindly, listen before judging and remind him as often as he was able that he was so loved.

Kao found, that if he wasn’t thinking about it in terms of testing Pete’s love language and just used it to dedicate himself to be a better boyfriend all around, it was easier.

Why hadn’t he been doing this all along?

Surrendering to his feelings and Pete was so easy.

Like breathing.

Maybe Pete was on to something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next is Acts of Service, stay tuned! And thank you for reading <3


	3. With Acts of Service

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Acts of service just meant doing things to show you cared in tangible ways. Do things for your person to make life a little easier for them. If Pete didn’t have to worry about little things, if Kao could take care of them, keep him fed and watered and with lower stress, then that was mission accomplished if you asked Kao.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Acts of Service, I had fun with this one and I think we're starting to see Kao getting better at and more used to being Pete's boyfriend. Finally, he's feeling comfortable enough to act like it and Pete's not complaining or teasing him too much...just a little.  
> I love these two oof.  
> Thank you for reading and let me know any thoughts or feelings, I'll see you next time xxx

After words of affirmation, there was acts of service. Which Kao pondered for a while because he wasn’t too sure how he was going to swing those, sort of things when he and Pete didn’t live together. They didn’t share space like that, they weren’t married or moved out on their own. But he figured that was the old Kao, the still frightened under the weight of their relationship, trying to find an out for being too obvious about his feelings, mediocre boyfriend Kao, talking.

He swallowed the feeling of inadequacy down before it could leave him hollow, because he’d been stuck like that for so long, he hadn’t even realized what kind of boyfriend Pete was just living with. Without too much complaining at all. He complained sometimes but Kao knew, for the most part, he was just happy to have him.

It wasn’t fair.

And he was trying to commit to committing to his feelings. Give in to them like Pete did. _Like breathing._

He could do this.

Acts of service just meant doing things to show you cared in tangible ways. Do things for your person to make life a little easier for them. If Pete didn’t have to worry about little things, if Kao could take care of them, keep him fed and watered and with lower stress, then that was mission accomplished if you asked Kao.

Just like how they’d always texted and checked on each other after a brutal day, Kao and Pete did things for each other without thinking. But at the same time, it was like they were hyper aware of each other when they did something like buy lunch or dinner or a coffee the other wasn’t expecting. Trying to break out of that mindset was still something he was dealing with, but he definitely thought he was better at it than before.

And he could totally manage the dating couple who still lived with their parents’ equivalent with all this, find ways to make things easier for Pete, help with whatever he was carrying, big or small.

And love him. He could love him.

xxx

He started on a Monday morning. He’d slept over at Pete’s and woke up before him. He usually did. Though today it was extra okay with him that he had because it allowed his plan to take shape. He rolled out of bed, slipped on the pajama pants he’d kicked off in the middle of the night when his space heater Pete wrapped around him and wouldn’t let go. He shuffled to grab a t-shirt from Pete’s closet before unlocking Pete’s phone to set an alarm to wake him up. 

His dad was at the table sipping a cup of coffee and reading the paper when Kao made his way into the kitchen. He looked up and waved at him.

“Good morning Kao,”

“Morning sir,” he felt himself warm up at his knowing smile, like it wasn’t enough that he gave Pete condoms so they could practice safe sex. He knew they had sex. He knew they’d already used the condoms he’d given them. He probably assumed they did it last night too. The mere concept made Kao shiver. He ran a hand down the back of his head to tame his hair, just for good measure and then the anxiety crept back in, curled over his shoulders heavily.

He’d wanted to make breakfast for Pete but didn’t want to dig around in their fridge while Pete’s dad was sitting right there. It seemed odd and intrusive. He’d been here so often and made himself at home, countless times but it felt wrong while his dad was watching him. But pretending he wasn’t.

Maybe he should just scrap it, run back upstairs to snuggle with Pete and then they could have toast or something equally lame before going to school. Yeah, that seemed fine. And then he didn’t have to put up with Pete’s dad staring at him like he was hiding something.

Apparently though, Pete took after his dad when it came to his perception because he turned back to his paper and said, “I’m not here,”

Kao looked at him, saw his head tilted down, back to his breakfast and the news printed in black and white.

Thankful for his understanding of his silent crisis, Kao asked, “you already ate sir?”

He nodded, “I did thank you though,”

Kao smiled and made his way into the kitchen where he grabbed a pan and some eggs from the fridge to make an omelet for his boyfriend.

Pete came down just as Kao was plating up the omelet, on top of bed of rice, set beside the bottle of chili sauce. He poured him a cup of coffee to put next to the plate at the counter.

“Morning,” Pete said, rubbing his eyes, brows scrunched as he looked at the plate. He shot a look to his dad at the table, but he was still pretending he wasn’t there at all.

“Breakfast,” Kao offered, pointing to the plate, “here babe,”

He waved him closer till Pete sat at the island, taking the fork with wide eyes, like he wasn’t sure he should trust the utensil or the food.

Kao knew his dad wasn’t watching them, so he moved around behind him, kissed the back of his head before saying, “I’m gonna shower, eat up, we have to get to school,”

“Thanks,” Pete turned, hands reached to catch him, but Kao dodged them expertly, knowing he didn’t have time to get caught in that. “Hey, did you set my alarm,”

Kao nodded, sheepishly adding, “I wanted you to have time to eat,”

Pete was further onto him, than he was last week when he was just being a better listener and softer to him than he typically was. This was more blatant boyfriend behavior and Pete liked to cling to that stuff. Because he was Pete.

“What’s with you?”

Kao blinked, turned so he couldn’t give himself away and started towards the stairs, he could see his dad’s shoulders shaking with laughter. “Eat your breakfast Pete,”

“How about I shower with you and then eat,”

“Pete,” he hissed from the stairs, pointing at him threateningly, there was only so much he could take okay, he could be a better boyfriend, but his dad was still sat at the table. Laughing at them.

Laughing _at him_.

It made his stomach roll violently.

This was exactly why he didn’t do this kind of thing because he knew people would make fun of him for being in love and Pete didn’t let him get away with anything. What was the point? He rushed his way up the stairs and into the bathroom where his red-faced reflection mocked him and his stupid plan to be better at being in a relationship.

So stupid. So, so stupid. He tried really, really hard to scrub away those feeling but couldn’t so he shut the water off and let himself shiver for a few seconds before grabbing his towel. He was being ridiculous. Though that paled in comparison to just how ridiculous and foolish he felt right now.

Maybe Pete wouldn’t say anything about it. Just pick up on his annoyance and need to not talk about it, let him go about his day in peacefully while he crumpled up pathetically inside his head.

He didn’t figure there’d be any escaping this and he didn’t really have any choice but to go get dressed and go to school. Unfortunately. So, he huffed his pruned self into Pete’s room where he was waiting for him, smiling at him from his bed. Of course.

“Breakfast was good,” he said plainly, standing up to catch him when Kao tried to skirt around him in his towel towards his folded clothes from yesterday.

“Don’t,” Kao knew he was whining and being pathetic, but he couldn’t help. He felt so stupid.

He felt Pete’s lips drag down the back of his neck, press to the top knob of his spine repeatedly.

“I’m not doing anything,”

“You’re messing with me,”

“No,” Pete insisted, “I’m not, I just wanted you to know that it was good, and I enjoyed every bite,”

Kao shrunk a little but pressed back when Pete’s arms looped around his waist and held onto him. He was so used to fighting against his touch, he imagined Pete thought this was odd too. Or maybe that he was sick because he’d cooked him breakfast randomly and now, he wasn’t elbowing to get away from him.

Maybe he was wondering if he was having a fever dream or something, hadn’t actually woken up yet because this wasn’t Kao. How come he couldn’t change for him, why did he have to be scrutinized?

Pete was quiet behind him. Decidedly not scrutinizing him at all. Huh?

“Was it actually good?”

Pete hummed, nose sniffing up to tuck against the damp hair at the base of his head.

“That’s good,”

He felt his boyfriend shake with a laugh, “cook for me more?”

Kao sighed, let his happy boyfriend hold him for another moment till he did elbow him to get away, “don’t push it,”

He had to slip that in, just so Pete didn’t think he’s snapped and had some sort of mental break. Or wasn’t trying to make up for something he did wrong. He wondered if his attempts at being a better boyfriend read as a guilty conscience to Pete. But maybe he was just enjoying it, wasn’t reading into it and only asked what was up with him lately because it was standard to tease each other for being sweet. That was as much a part of their relationship as anything else. Kao was just being sensitive. It was fine. They were fine. And Pete was definitely fine as he chased him around his room, trying to steal the towel off his hips, under the guise of needing it for his own shower, laughter echoing around his room when Kao yelled at him that they were going to be late.

xxx

He’d been thinking, wondering, debating, his next move with all this. It was hard finding ways to lighten Pete’s load when they didn’t live together, they didn’t have shared housework or tasks that needed doing that Kao could chose to do for him instead, so Pete didn’t have to.

But he managed.

He was in Pete’s room, waiting for him to come back from getting them a snack when he spotted the basket of laundry by his closet. The clothes he’d worn to school that day were in a heap on the other side of the room, so Kao assumed they were clean. The used dryer sheet on top helped build his case for clean too. He could fold his laundry for him, so he didn’t have to.

If he could get it done fast enough, then Pete wouldn’t catch him in the act and question him about it. Kao wasn’t sure he could take that.

He folded his jeans quickly, pairing socks and folding boxers before walking them to his dresser to put away. He hung up the three dress shirts that were nice and crisp, waiting to be worn to school, put next to his engineering shirt in the closet.

When the basket was empty, he smiled, that wasn’t hard at all and now Pete didn’t have to do it. He might not bother folding his laundry anyway but now he didn’t have to think about it at all.

Kao grabbed the basket, picked up his dirty clothes to drop them inside and put it in the corner, feeling accomplished.

Pete came back just as he was laying back on his bed, sprawled out in a way that made Pete laugh at him. He put their snack on his bedside table along with their drinks before launching to land on top of him, snack and homework forgotten.

.

Later, when Kao was home, his phone buzzed beside him, showed a text from Pete.

It was photo of his laundry basket with the text _, ???_

Kao sent him back a smiley face.

Which Pete answered with three hearts and a, _love you_.

Who knew folding someone else’s laundry would make him feel like this?

Good.

It made him feel really good.

xxx

It figured that Pete was sat with their friends, he couldn’t dash in and dash out simply now. They’d ask questions or tease him.

But he’d already bought Pete a coffee. He had to give it to him. Or throw it away.

Sighing, he made his way to their table.

June grinned up at him brightly, firing comments at him rapidly about what he thought about their test in a few days, if he’d help them study over the weekend or not.

Kao didn’t answer him, just sat down beside Pete. He put the coffee in the space just off to side of his hand. It didn’t seem to draw anyone’s attention. Thankfully.

He told them he had students for most of the weekend and might be able to swing a study group on Sunday afternoon if they wanted but they all groaned, not looking _that_ eager to study for their test if it meant giving up the end of their weekend.

Kao rolled his eyes at them, leaning closer to Pete when he did it first. It encouraged him to linger here for a little while longer, because Pete was warm and right there. When he got up, he left the coffee behind, at Pete’s fingertips, feeling proud of himself for being so sneaky.

But he heard them when he walked away teasing Pete about his ‘wife’ being so good to him. It made him laugh the way Pete told them to _shut up_ , phone buzzing immediately after with a thank you text from his boyfriend. 

xxx

Kao was lingering in the cafeteria, he had lunch that he’d bought for Pete hanging in a bag on his arm, checked his watch for the tenth time at least, wondering where the heck he was.

He debated calling him when he caught sight of him coming up the stairs on the other side of the café, couldn’t help the smile that took over his face seeing Pete coming towards him, wearing a blinding smile of his own.

It only took a second for his smile to fade into a frown, seeing a plastic bag identical to his own in Pete’s hand.

“Hey,” Pete stopped in front of him, “I got you lunch,”

Kao laughed, lifted his own bag to show him, “I got _you_ lunch,”

It was Pete’s turn to laugh, looking very pleased that they’d had the same thought.

“Trade you,” Pete offered, smirking at Kao. Kao watched his mouth move off to the side, eyes bright where they were teasing him. He held the bag out for him to take.

Kao smiled wider, held his own bag closer, “trading is dependent on what you got me,”

“Pad Krapow,”

Kao hummed, pretending to think about it, even though he knew, and Pete obviously knew that that was his favorite.

“Come on,” Pete reached for his bag, while offering his own, “I’m hungry,”

He led them to a table, unwrapped their food, while making these happy, hungry little noises as the smells hit him, grabbing the disposable fork and spoon to tuck in.

Pete was busy humming around every mouthful of rice while Kao watched him, happy he could do something simple for him, to help him get through the rest of his day.

“What made you buy me lunch?” Pete asked after catching him looking at him while he ate.

Kao looked down, “what made _you_ buy _me_ lunch?

Pete laughed. He didn’t tease him about his dodging or say anything ever remotely snarky in answer to that. Instead he surprised him.

“I wanted to do something for you, you’ve been nice to me all week,”

Kao knew he didn’t mean it that way. It wasn’t backhanded or cruel intentioned. But all this was making him feel really vulnerable, cut open and it sounded like Pete didn’t think Kao was nice to him before. It hurt a little honestly.

He didn’t mean it that way, Kao reminded himself of that repeatedly till Pete tapped his foot with his own under the table. Kao looked up to see his boyfriend smiling softly at him, checking that this was alright without saying anything.

Having lunch together. Reciprocating each other’s kindness. Thinking about the other when they weren’t together. Feet touching under the table. All of it happened so naturally and Pete still, because he was thoughtful, wanted to be sure it was okay with Kao. He was always sacrificing for him.

Kao tapped him back, hooked their ankles together afterward.

Hopefully that was enough to say, _it’s good, I promise_.

xxx

Kao knew his schedule of students would keep him fairly busy this weekend tutoring, but he didn’t want to leave Pete hanging because they had that big test on Monday morning.

And he imagined his stress would be worse because they couldn’t be together to study, and Kao couldn’t talk him down from the ledge in person.

The study guide he made him, was color coded, with little notes in the margins that reminded him to have some water and take a deep breath, make a flash card for concepts he didn’t understand to practice separately. He added a few hearts and encouraging, ‘you’re doing great’s’ just because he didn’t want him to forget.

He hoped to catch him before he left, rushing across to the lot by campus to look for him.

Luckily, he found him unlocking his car, he hadn’t left yet.

As he was handing him the study guide, it struck him that this wasn’t something he did with the thought of being a better boyfriend in mind. He did it without thinking and without worrying about Pete’s love language.

“Thanks babe,” Pete grinned from ear to ear, something lingered at the edges, but Kao assumed that was just his realization that this test was on Monday and there was no escaping it. “Guess you giving me this means I won’t see you this weekend huh?”

“I have tutoring most of the day tomorrow and Sunday morning…and then I’m studying,”

Pete lit up, “you could study with me!”

“Pete,”

“Come on Kao, you know I focus better when I have proper motivators,” he stepped closer to him, turned him around to effectively box him in against the side of his car. Kao huffed, lifted his hands to press against Pete’s chest to keep him from descending on him any further. “I was hoping you’d maybe make me breakfast again,”

Kao rolled his eyes, the fuzzy feeling he’d had was fading fast.

“I’m never doing that again if you don’t stop teasing me about it,”

“What makes you think I’m teasing? I liked it,”

Kao gave him a look.

“I’m serious, it was nice…we should do that, cook together,” Pete offered, practically sparkling in the sunlight.

He thought about it, “you get an acceptable grade on this test and I’ll let _you_ cook _me_ breakfast,”

Pete smiled before realizing what he’d said, “what’s an acceptable grade?”

“Nothing lower than an A,”

Pete groaned, head thumping against his shoulder, “that’s not fair,”

“You still want to get into T-Power on your own?” he asked, hands sliding up to rest on his shoulders, squeezing gently, “A, babe, you can do it,”

“Kaaoooo,” he whined.

“Use the study guide, it’ll help,”

Pete rubbed his forehead against him, “I get to cook for you right, if I get an A?”

Kao raised an eyebrow, humming at him.

“I can do it,” Pete decided, proudly. He ducked into his neck once more, sniffing up to his ear so fast Kao wasn’t even sure he’d done it at all. But the goosebumps all over his skin proved he had. Pete hopped into his car quickly after, looking like he could do just about anything as he pulled out of his parking spot, waving as he went.

It made him smile. He had a ways to go still to be the best boyfriend, a boyfriend Pete deserved but knowing he thought about him and didn’t need his investigating to justify what he was doing today at least, made him feel good.

But he would’ve done this for Pete anyway. Because he didn’t want him worrying about the test too much, wanted to be sure he was studying the right stuff, lightening his load when the weight of not being prepared attempted to crush him.

It didn’t have anything to do with love languages.

But it had everything to do with Kao, his love for Pete and how, in his way, he was a better boyfriend than he originally thought.

He lifted his head to see Pete reversing back to him, rolled down his window when he was beside him again.

“If you’re tutoring all day tomorrow, you could come over tonight, right?”

Kao smiled at him.

“My dad’s having dinner with a client, he won’t be home till late,”

“Pete,”

“Please, please, I’ll only be a little distracting if you want to study,”

With the way Kao was feeling right now, righteous and happy, he couldn’t very well say no to that offer, could he?

No, he couldn’t.

xxx

To Kao, after some initial stress and doubt, felt at this moment in time was the most he’d felt like Pete’s boyfriend and not just his best friend who made out with him sometimes. He did things for him because he loved him, tried not to let his head get in the way of those things and when he managed that, it felt really good. And Pete was very responsive to his attention, to the way he cooked for him, noticed him doing his laundry and did a good boyfriend thing for him to thank him for how he’d been taking care of him all week. Kao still wanted to see how he reacted to the other love languages but this one, these types of things were definitely things he’d continue doing, to make Pete happy, to improve his day and whatever he was dealing with.

This week, doing things for Pete, being his boyfriend was so easy. He didn’t have to think too hard once he’d started, it just felt normal, natural. Like he was just loving his boyfriend.

Kao liked thinking about it that way a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Physical Touch is next *cheers* Go Kao Go!


	4. Through Physical Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For now, he’d built a pretty strong case for Pete’s love language being physical touch. Pete being Pete, it made the most sense to him that his boyfriend would respond most to touch from someone he loved, that it would improve his mood and make his day brighter if Kao was there with a hug or a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people! So, i wanted to get this out tonight because i know tomorrow is going to bring angst and stress! The previews for this week's DBK made me feel a little sick honestly, so not looking forward to that...if Pete doesn't show up for Kao, there will be tears and violence. Anyway!  
> I tried to show Kao attempting to be a bit more spontaneous with Pete and not thinking so much. Which leads to love languages just being incorporated with them as boyfriends. If that makes sense. Okay, that's it i think, happy reading and let me know what you thought! xxx

From words of affirmation, to acts of service, he’d arrived at physical touch, the portion Kao assumed would be easiest to manage. Because he and Pete had gotten together through a series of kisses, feelings realized after trying to deny themselves each other and finally breaking down when they were close, too close, not close enough. They had always thrived on touch, since they’d tried so hard for so long not to touch each other and then suddenly being allowed, it encouraged them to be physical with one another when they were alone. It’s what their relationship was built on initially. The need to be close combined with the fear of letting themselves have it.

Even after so long together, things were still very physical with Pete. He loved to touch and kiss and exist inside Kao’s orbit, inside his personal space bubble till Kao adapted and fixed it so there was just enough space inside for Pete too. All of that wasn’t necessarily what physical touch in terms of love languages meant. It was the use of body language and contact to show love and support without the need for words.

When he thought about it like that, it made him change his mind a little. Maybe it wouldn’t be so easy. To incorporate. To manage for him.

He wasn’t the one who initiated contact in their relationship. That was Pete.

He wasn’t the one who put himself out there constantly. That was Pete.

He wasn’t the one who took his hand while they were watching a movie. That was Pete.

And Kao didn’t usually initiate cuddles, it was typically Pete who attached to him and held him tight. That’s not to say he didn’t ever touch his boyfriend because he did. Occasionally, if the moment called for it, he’d wrap his arms around Pete to hug him, he’d take his hand to support him or hold him together, he’d flirt with the intention of Pete kissing him. And one time he even, concocted a story to have Pete all to himself and willing to hold his hand for a whole day. That was a great day! Even the part when Pete had him all figured out and started messing with him because he also promised to indulge him and do whatever he could to always make him happy. That was one of his favorite boyfriend memories to date.

It still made him really nervous though because he wasn’t the most affectionate and of the two of them, it was definitely Pete who was more outwardly affectionate and interested in contact than Kao. And Kao was into those things, he just clamed up. Like he did with plenty of other things. 

But recently, doing all these classically boyfriend like things with Pete and to Pete and for Pete, it didn’t seem like a foreign concept that Kao might be able to initiate hugs and kisses and touches. It gave him confidence and courage. Being Pete’s boyfriend wasn’t hard and being a better boyfriend was something he was willing to work at. He could do it. Well, he could certainly try.

And he was admittedly looking forward to trying those sorts of things with Pete, he made it look so easy. Of course, all easy things with Pete came with some hesitation or anxiety because again, he wasn’t the one in their relationship who initiate physical touch and intimacy. And if he did, Pete would think something was up with him. Because that’s how unfamiliar Kao was with those things. With doing those things before Pete could. His boyfriend would probably think it was an unwillingness to touch or hug or kiss him without provocation when really it was just fear. After all this time he still found himself afraid of putting himself out there. Even though Pete loved him completely and he trusted Pete so much, it was just difficult. Something he needed to practice and normalize.

Still, the fact remained that he wasn’t the physical one in their relationship and if he randomly started, he knew Pete would notice because he knew him so well that wouldn’t escape him. Hugging his boyfriend out of nowhere couldn’t be explained away with a ‘you looked tired’ or a ‘good luck on your test’ and he knew Pete would catch onto him now. If he hadn’t already, he would after this.

For sure.

But Kao would deal with that later.

For now, he’d built a pretty strong case for Pete’s love language being physical touch. Pete being Pete, it made the most sense to him that his boyfriend would respond most to touch from someone he loved, that it would improve his mood and make his day brighter if Kao was there with a hug or a kiss. That’s just the type of person he was. But maybe he’d surprise him. He hadn’t been expecting him to respond so well to acts of service either, but Pete had flourished under his attention last week in a way Kao never wanted to let go of.

Which encouraged him. Pete was so important to him, he was everything. And if going out of his way, stepping out of his comfort zone to hold his boyfriends’ hand or kiss him, was going to make Pete as happy as cooking him breakfast had, then Kao could manage. There were certainly worse things Kao could put himself through for his boyfriend.

xxx

Kao didn’t have a plan per see this week because, to him, physical touch with Pete seemed like it had to be more spontaneous. At least, for him because if he thought, _okay, we’re going to go out to lunch and I’m going to hold his hand and then_ …it just didn’t work. He got too in his head. And he didn’t really want to plan it either. Kao just wanted it to happen. Remind himself to love Pete before he saw him and then just roll with it.

xxx

It started on Thursday, after they got their scores back from their test, they headed to Kao’s house, since his mom wanted to cook them dinner. Pete was looking very excited, thrilled even in the quiet of his house, in the comfort of his room before his mom got home from work.

He didn’t mean to start anything major, but he knew Pete would react only one way when Kao pushed him to sit on his bed before Kao climbed in his lap.

Pete’s eyes lit up instantly, but Kao didn’t make any moves to further what he knew Pete was expecting. He smiled though, couldn’t fight it actually, when Pete grinned up at him.

“Hi,” Pete whispered, nose tucking against his throat. He breathed in slow, reverently, it gave Kao chills. But the kind that had him looping his arms around Pete’s neck to hold onto him.

“Hi,”

“Is this because I got an A on the test?”

Kao shook his head, dislodging Pete in the process but it allowed him to duck to lay their foreheads together instead. 

“It’s because…I like,” Kao started, wishing he hadn’t gone that way with it, but he was trying to be braver, trying to commit for Pete, “like you,”

Pete pulled back an inch, “you like me? That’s good, since you’re dating me,”

Kao pinched him. They so weren’t good at this sort of thing.

“Yes, I like you and when I saw how happy you were after getting your grade back, all I could think about was getting to hug you or kiss you and see you smile like that again, shut up,”

Pete’s smile continued to grow, “I’m not saying anything baby,”

Kao felt himself pout a little but tried to ignore it, “good,” 

He figured, if Pete didn’t have his number already, he definitely had it now, judging by the way his eyes lit up. The way he was looking at him. He wanted to keep that happy, loved look on Pete’s face because he deserved to know those things, trust those things, stay happy because of those things. Kao, thanks to all his investigating, now knew a pretty good way to keep a smile on Pete’s face.

“I’m proud of you,”

Pete lit up more, like a star that was ready to explode had taken up residence inside him. And the smile he was sporting stayed firm on his face. Exactly like Kao thought it would. 

“Really?”

“Really,”

Pete, in classic Pete fashion said, “proud enough to kiss me?”

Kao rolled his eyes, fondly. Did it still count if Pete asked for a kiss and Kao didn’t just go for it himself? 

The thought caught him out but not so much that he didn’t angle Pete’s head up to kiss him. Just gently, nothing crazy or too intense, he wouldn’t be able to shake Pete off before his mom got home if they got too involved. So, Kao kept it light, simple. Enjoyed the way Pete sighed out through his nose, arms squeezed his waist tight and how his warmth seeped into him where they were attached.

Kao didn’t think it mattered that Pete asked and he gave in. Didn’t his acceptance and willingness to kiss Pete still count it as physical touch, it was something they got to do together. Mutually. Kao liked that.

He smirked, fingers brushing Pete’s hair back when he pulled away and Pete pouted.

“You’re a tease,”

“No, I just don’t want you to get too caught up that we don’t stop when my mom gets home,”

Pete groaned, flopping backwards to sprawl on his bed. Kao let him go, watching him with a smile. “Just because you don’t think you’re a tease doesn’t mean you aren’t…it’s like you don’t know what you do to me,”

“Pete,”

“What,”

“Stop being dramatic or I won’t kiss you at all,”

Pete made a motion like he was zipping his mouth shut, held his arms up to collect him, kiss him a few more times when Kao dropped on top of him.

To his credit he let go of him when Kao tried to get up shortly after, hearing his mom downstairs, moving around. Pete asked him to promise to pick this up later, so Kao kissed the top of his head when he pulled him up. He didn’t even complain that much. Which was maybe more impressive than anything else.

.

That night when they were curled up in his bed, Kao grabbed Pete’s hand where it laid between them, lifted it to hold with both his own before relaxing with them on his stomach. His eyes were still open, so he saw Pete turn his head to look at him.

“I like you too,”

Kao felt himself smile, rolled his head to look back at Pete.

“I realized I didn’t say it back earlier,”

Kao didn’t say anything. Just, found himself caught watching the way the moonlight snuck through his curtains and made Pete glow. He felt Pete squeeze his hand, thumb stroked over his knuckles slowly, endlessly. Till Kao’s eyes got heavy and sleep closed in.

“Good night Pete,”

Besides him the bed dipped as Pete got closer, leaned over him to press a kiss to his head, “good night Kao,” another kiss, “I’m looking forward to my breakfast tomorrow, what’re you making me?”

It took Kao a second to respond. But, belatedly, he pinched the back of Pete’s hand.

“Ow,” Pete whispered, still sounding super close to him, “fine, fine I’ll do breakfast,”

He didn’t open his eyes, didn’t need to, to know how amused Pete was right now, by all of this and him. He imagined, Pete was grinning happily at the way the tired, contented smile wouldn’t leave Kao’s face as he drifted off to sleep.

xxx

The next morning, the other side of the bed, Pete’s side, was empty. It made Kao wrinkle his nose because Pete wasn’t usually one to get up before him. Maybe he had to go to the bathroom or decided to shower first.

Either way, it was time for Kao to get up.

He made his way downstairs, not seeing his mom or Pete anywhere till he stepped into the kitchen.

Pete was stood at the stove, spatula in hand as he kept a close eye on whatever was sizzling in front of him. It smelled really good. Warmth flooded him seeing Pete cooking. For him. He wore domesticity really, really well.

Since it was early, his defenses were still pretty much down so Kao closed the space between them, wrapped his arms around Pete from behind and tucked his face against his back.

Pete startled a little, turned his head slightly before a happy noise left him and his hands squeezed his over his stomach.

“Morning,”

“Hi,” Kao whispered.

“Your mom had an early faculty thing, so she just left,”

Kao hummed, a little more interested in Pete, cooking, here in his arms, than he was with the lack of his mom.

“What’re you doing?”

Pete huffed, “making you breakfast, I promised,”

“You did?”

He listened as Pete flicked the stove off, pushed the pan off the heat. Then he was turning, arms looping around his back which forced Kao to readjust, look at Pete where he was smirking at him like he knew all his secrets.

“Think you might’ve fallen asleep on me, you weren’t answering me, but you had your sleepy, _I’m gonna have a good dream_ smile on,”

Kao remembered Pete saying something about expecting breakfast but he sort of thought he’d imagined that.

“I must’ve,” he settled on.

Pete hummed, “if you want to eat though you have to let me go,”

Kao scrunched his face, not understanding that. He tightened his arms around Pete instead.

“What? You don’t want to?”

“No,” well that only sounded a little petulant. Pete’s eyebrow arch told him it was more than a little.

His boyfriend reached up to run a hand through Kao’s hair, rubbed at his ear gently, “what’s with you huh?”

 _Caught_. Kao released him, backed up so they weren’t even touching.

“Sorry,” he muttered, feeling small under his gaze and super exposed in the light of the kitchen.

Pete looked confused as Kao turned away from him, moved to the fridge for something to drink while actively ignoring Pete’s eyes on him.

“Hey,”

Kao didn’t turn around.

“Kao,”

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath.

“Kao,”

“Sorry,”

Pete sighed. “I didn’t mean to make you stop,”

Kao caught sight of his feet where they walked into his, a hand reached out for his to hold before Pete was dragging his attention up.

“And I wasn’t making fun of you,” he was so close to him. “I just don’t think breakfast is worth getting injured over, hmm,”

Kao dropped forward, murmured into Pete’s t-shirt, “just wanted to hug you,”

Pete was quiet in the face of that. But he looked pleasantly surprised when Kao looked up at him.

“You’re making not having any breakfast sound really good babe,”

Pete’s interest in wanting him close reassured Kao tremendously. His boyfriend didn’t mind the touching, even if it was unexpected. He wasn’t making fun of him. He loved him. He was making him breakfast, which he’d just threatened to take away from him. No way.

Kao startled, offended at the mere idea of not getting his apparent promised meal, “excuse me, I believe I was promised breakfast,”

“Thought you didn’t remember that,” Pete said, pulling at his waist to get him closer.

“Well, you made the mistake of telling me about it,” he pried Pete’s hands off him, walked back to lean against the counter across the kitchen while Pete watched him. “Breakfast Pete,”

Pete looked torn between ignoring him and doing what he’d asked. In the end their breakfast won out as Pete finished cooking and Kao grabbed them plates as well as some juice.

He thanked him with a kiss or two that had Pete’s eyes bugging out of his head, leaning forward for more and smirking when Kao pushed him away.

It was nice getting to surprise Pete, especially so early in the morning. But what was even nicer, was getting to share breakfast with Pete, getting to sit so close to him, just the two of them and know, even if hugging Pete randomly was out of character for him, Pete was wonderfully accepting of that sort of thing. He’d been surprised, Kao could see that, but he schooled himself the second he thought he’d upset Kao, returned to the boyfriend Kao was ridiculously lucky to have. He was the best and Kao was so crazy in love with him.

It seemed like a lot for so early in the morning.

But for Pete, it was just enough.

xxx

Through the week he continued to try to hug Pete more, kiss Pete more, cuddle with Pete more and hold Pete’s hand more. And Pete for his part, he’d noticed had stopped commenting on his increased willingness to touch him and initiate things. He looked pleased as hell every single time, but he didn’t say anything. Apparently, Kao’s momentary shut down at breakfast had been enough to show him this wasn’t something to be questioned.

Like today, he kept quiet when Kao, in the passenger seat, took his hand from where it had been fiddling with the radio, laced it with his own to rest on his leg. Kao resolutely wouldn’t look at him because he knew the smile and twinkle in Pete’s eyes would make him feel so embarrassed and embarrassment was the precursor to Kao’s emotional retreat. He refused to do that. Refused! The flip side to that though was that he couldn’t see happy Pete. He loved happy Pete, loved happy Pete in response to him. 

Not that he needed to see him to know he was happy. He could feel it in the car, as prominent as the a/c blowing cold air on his legs. He could sense it in the way Pete squeezed his hand, thumb moved in gentle strokes that had Kao’s heart simultaneously speeding up and calming down. It didn’t make sense, those two things happening at once but it was a phenomenon that Pete often caused in him.

xxx

Kao had had a really, really long day. Between forgetting to plug his phone in the night before, not being able to catch a cab, missing the first bus and having to wait for the second and then spilling some of his drink on his pants before he even got to take a sip and made it worse when he tried to wash it out in the bathroom. Sun offered him something of his own to change into, but Kao had already kept his three students waiting long enough, he just wanted to get to tutoring them so he could go home and go back to bed. It was just one of those days.

Then Pete texted him, asked if he wanted to go out for dinner and then a movie. Honestly. He really didn’t want to. He just wanted to curl up, not think about notes or schoolwork or students or chocolate shakes. But Pete. The thought of seeing Pete was very tempting.

Still, he knew the mood he was in, so he texted him back saying he didn’t feel up to it. Which led to Pete asking him if he just wanted to come over instead, they could watch a movie on the couch, order take out and forget the world existed for a bit.

Now that offer sounded like the kind of tempting, he could give in to.

The bad day continued when his phone died before he could answer Pete. And then the skies opened up like it was peak rainy season. Of course, bad day karma meant Kao didn’t have his umbrella, wonderful.

All of that considered, Kao couldn’t get to Pete’s fast enough.

The cab driver who dropped him off at Pete’s house wasn’t nice either, which soured his mood further, had him rushing down the driveway and up the steps as quick as he could.

Pete opened the door shortly after he knocked, surveying his dripping form with a slightly sorry look but he didn’t push Kao away or stop him when Kao stepped forward to bury in his chest.

His arms were automatic to wrap around him, held onto him extra tight like he could tell by the set of his shoulders how miserable Kao was feeling. Things go wrong all the time and other people definitely have it worse but today just felt like one of those days where Kao figured he probably should’ve just stayed home. Except Pete was here.

He needed Pete.

His wonderful boyfriend pressed a couple kisses to the top of his head, his sopping wet head while he shut the door behind him, walked him back into the living room.

“You wanna change babe, sweatshirt and shorts, sounds good right?” He was being so gentle with him, it was making Kao feel fuzzy. He nodded against him, warm, dry clothes sounded so good he couldn’t even speak.

Pete sent him up the stairs after some more gentle encouraging, promising him there’d be blankets, a snack, whatever movie he wanted and him on the couch when he came back. So, Kao hurried away. Quickly, sifted through Pete’s closet for a sweatshirt and a loose pair of black shorts. The washing machine was empty so he put his wet clothes inside, knowing Pete and his dad wouldn’t mind.

Pete was exactly where he said he would be, bowl of popcorn on the table with a couple teas next to the couch where he was stretched out, blanket thrown over the back for later.

He held his arms open not that Kao needed too much encouragement to snuggle against him, he was in his arms instantly, pressed between Pete and the back of the couch so comfortably, if he could lease this space, he would.

Pete didn’t stop touching him the whole time. At first it was his fingers laced with his own over his stomach. Then it was a hand looping large circles up and down Kao’s back, opposite hand rubbed along Kao’s arm. After that his fingers would tangle in his still damp hair, pressing kisses to his head every so often.

Kao’s favorite though, was Pete’s arm wrapped low around his back, other hand tight in Kao’s on his chest, Kao using his shoulder as a pillow. Kao was starting to think that his own love language might be physical touch. As odd as that sounded, it surprised him too. It was just so nice being close to Pete, in his arms, he felt so warm and protected. Like bad days weren’t so bad because Pete was here at the end of them to hold his hand and kiss his head, keep him safe and sound and here.

“You’re alright, right?”

Kao hummed.

“Do you wanna talk about it,”

“Just had a bad day, nothing happened, it was just…a lot, ya know,”

Pete nosed across his forehead, “I know, m’sorry,”

“Why’re you sorry, you were the only good part,”

He didn’t have to look up to know Pete was beaming.

“Just don’t like you sad I guess,”

Kao tipped back a little, met Pete’s eyes, “I’m not babe, I’m happy,”

“Good,” Pete decided, “I like you happy best,”

“I think you like me here best,” Kao sent a pointed look at him, at the way they were entangled on his couch. Kao moved his leg to toss it over Pete’s, stretching so their feet could hook together.

“Got me,” Pete smiled down at him, tipped forward to kiss him slowly.

It made Kao arch forward, lean into him with a smile the longer Pete kissed him.

“I like it best here too,” he whispered against him when they parted.

Pete held him a little tighter for that.

The movie was probably halfway over when he started to doze off. Pete’s warmth, solid bulk beside him, his hands on him and breath moving his hair around on his forehead, was all he needed to lull him into the calm quiet before sleep.

His eyes were closed, head heavy when he heard Pete talking, answering his dad. He came back just enough to tune into what they were saying, though it filtered through slowly.

“We were gonna order take out,” Pete said.

His dad didn’t say anything back immediately. And then.

“Is he alright,” his voice sounded as worried as it did confused. They were talking about him. _Oh._

Pete’s voice was quieter, warmer, closer, “bad day…”

“Not that you’re complaining,”

This was how Pete and his dad talked to each other. It was so easy. So natural, like they were friends, not father and son. Kao envied them a little.

“I’m not trying to capitalize on his bad day but no, I’m not complaining either,”

Kao snuggled closer, nose pressed to Pete’s throat when Pete’s dad laughed.

“If you guys get sushi, I’ll take my usual,” his dad’s voice said, getting further away.

“Got it,”

He heard his shuffling and then a door open and close down the hall, into his office for the rest of the afternoon probably.

Pete’s nose made its way back into his hair where it stayed for the remainder of the movie, his arms stayed around him too. A welcome weight and comfort that Kao was endlessly thankful to have as his, after his day. This and Pete, wiped out any remaining shreds of his bad day and replaced it with love and touch and a sense of safety that Kao couldn’t properly describe.

But he liked it.

A lot.

Though, at this point, Kao figured that went without saying.

xxx

Kao had been wondering from the start of this if these tests were more for Pete or him. Clearly, it was good for him to try to be a better boyfriend all around. But after this week, it was very clear, this was just as much a study into him being in love as it was about Pete. They were a couple. They navigated life’s ups and downs together, had good days and bad days and hoped they were enough to help the other get through them in one piece.

Pete was enough for Kao. On any day. He was more than enough. And getting to put himself out there, hug and touch Pete when he wanted, naturally give himself to Pete whenever he felt like it was amazing. This week, as much as it was about Pete’s love language, seemed to Kao like it was even more about just being Pete’s boyfriend. Being two people in love.

Being in love with Pete was manageable, he already did it every day. Now though he was starting to understand what it meant to be an active participant in a relationship. It was really kind of special.

Give and get. Be deserving and adoring at the same time.

Love and be loved in return. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next...is...gifts! It wasn't going to be but I think i'm gonna save quality time for last. okay, i love knowing what you guys think so let me know, bye bye! x


	5. With Gifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After physical touch, there was gifts. Which to Kao meant showing Pete he was thinking of him by giving him things, gestures for special occasions or just because he wanted to show him that he was a priority. He was absolutely a priority to Kao, so he wasn’t too worried about this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So, this one took me a little longer because of the holidays (i hope everyone had a good holiday season! I'm glad its over tho :)) anyway...here it is! One more full chapter after this and then i might include a tiny epilogue but i'm not too sure yet. We shall see! 
> 
> Also how's everyone now that DBK is over? I've never eaten my words so bad like i had to after dbk's finale, like whoa. But i really wasn't holding out any hope, not after History 3: MODC broke me in half...that said, i owe GMMTV an apology and a thank you for fixing things so nicely and not letting us down lol
> 
> Happy reading, let me know what you though xxx

After physical touch, there was gifts. Which to Kao meant showing Pete he was thinking of him by giving him things, gestures for special occasions or just because he wanted to show him that he was a priority. He was absolutely a priority to Kao, so he wasn’t too worried about this one. Of all of the love languages, he was pretty confident that this one would be a piece of cake because he and Pete had always brought each other lunch or coffee, given each other things that reminded them of each other. Their bear had become a good example of that, they’d record a message and leave it for the other and then a few days later Kao would find it back on his own bed with a message from Pete.

After last week, Kao was feeling much, much better about how he was doing as Pete’s boyfriend. He hadn’t fallen into anxiety or stress over anything this week, he’d stayed calm and collected in the face of intimacy and touch, hadn’t shied away when Pete was close, and he thought that was a really good sign. He’d come a long way since the start of this and now he was here. This whole process had opened him up to all the ways he’d been unconsciously neglecting Pete and now that he was aware, he wouldn’t be backtracking. Pete deserved the world and Kao was eager to give it to him. Through touch and gifts and kind words and actions and time. He was here. He was ready.

xxx

For Kao and Pete, two college kids who didn’t have full time jobs, buying gifts wasn’t the most feasible thing. Sure, Pete was rich because of his dad’s money but they agreed a long time ago that Pete wouldn’t be excessive in a way that Kao couldn’t reciprocate. His only allotted splurges were dinners, if he used them and he wasn’t allowed more than one expensive date a month, which he’d grumbled about when Kao brought it up but had ultimately listened to him. So, yeah Pete had money, but Kao didn’t like him using it on him because it made him feel bad. For now, this is what they had and Pete seemed okay with that. Since he’d been enforcing the no splurging rule since the start of them, it worked out that Kao didn’t have endless funds to blow on Pete. For this week of testing Pete’s love language via gifts and gift giving, it had to be little things, inexpensive but still thoughtful things that Pete would appreciate.

Maybe in a year or two they’d both be more financially independent and stable and could afford to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a gift but right now, he figured that there were still some affordable options and he refused to use his status as a broke college student as an excuse not to spoil his boyfriend. He’d figure it out. They wouldn’t be extravagant by any means, but he’d make it work. He was determined.

xxx

Because it was familiar to him, the first thing Kao gave to Pete, the first gift of the week was their bear. Pete had left it for him a few days ago with a sweet message to get plenty of sleep before their date the next day.

They were at Pete’s to study when Kao pulled the bear out of his backpack and handed it to Pete. His boyfriend’s eyes lit up, excited to hear his message and get the bear back so he could turn around and give it to Kao again.

For a second, he thought maybe he should tell Pete to play the message after he left but figured, there wasn’t much of a point to that. He’d already put it out there, and Pete was here too so he was safe and would be taken care of if he started feeling shaky, this was good.

He was good.

He listened as the speaker inside the bear played his message, ‘ _I’m not sure anyone else alive is as lucky as I am to have you, to have you love me like you do,_ ’

Kao kept his focus on his homework because he was still himself and couldn’t make himself watch Pete’s reaction or stare back at it right now.

Then Pete leaned into him, kissed his cheek with enough pressure to push him sideways and then over so Pete could clamor on top of him. Their homework got forgotten, books knocked to the floor, but their bear was placed carefully on the nightstand by Pete, lest something bad happen to it. The action made Kao smile into Pete’s mouth, he really was such a good boyfriend, such a good person for Kao and he was, as he’d mentioned, so, so lucky to have him.

xxx

A couple days later, he’d bought ingredients to make dinner, chicken and pasta that Pete had said sounded good the other day which encouraged Kao. They’d been trying to make dinner together more because it was a nice way to spend time together and Pete was always super helpful and sweet, though perhaps a little distracting. Anytime a timer was set he’d decide that meant an allotted amount of time they could make out. And that wasn’t something Kao could really argue against. Which was another thing this had all brought out in him, he was giving in to happy Pete and not discouraging him when he touched or kissed or loved him extra affectionately. Last week’s experimenting with physical touch had really changed so much for him and he was loving it. Loving the sides of himself he’d been too afraid to show before. That Pete embraced them, loved them just as much if not more, was encouraging to say the least and helped him stay confident, sure for him.

Right now, there wasn’t a timer set yet, so Pete was filling a pot to boil while Kao turned the chicken over in the pan, attempting to blacken it more per the recipe, their shoulders bumped gently with every move they made. While they waited for the water, Pete’s mouth found its way to his neck, body pressed to his from behind.

“I like this,” Pete whispered, words chilled his skin where they ran over his neck. Pete, probably intrigued, pressed a few more kisses down the trail of goosebumps he’d caused, smile evident where Kao could feel it under his ear.

“What? Cooking?”

Pete hummed. Kao was so comfortable in this moment, with Pete pressed against that he couldn’t help falling into their routine, teasing him and each other was second nature.

“I’ll admit, it’s reassuring to me that you’re capable of actual edible cooking, and not just that congealed spicy mush you tried to feed me that one time,”

Pete pinched him, groaning against his skin. “I’m learning,”

“I know you are,” Kao said back, squeezing Pete’s hands where they were laced over his stomach, “though now I have to think up another birthday present,”

“What? Were you gonna get me cooking lessons or something?”

Kao didn’t say anything, felt himself flush when Pete squeezed him the longer, he stayed silent.

“No way, was that really what you were going to get me?”

Kao ducked his head with a laugh, “they were couples cooking lessons,” he offered, still laughing to himself the longer Pete kept making these annoyed, whining noises to him. 

Kao turned around to make sure Pete wasn’t really upset with him, not able to contain his laughter seeing his frown. He looped his arms around his shoulders while Pete’s stayed firm around his waist.

“Shut up,”

“Sorry, sorry,” Kao sucked in a breath to stop the rest of his laughter, he wasn’t trying to upset Pete with that. “It was mostly a joke, but I also thought it’d be fun,” he smiled up at his boyfriend when he gave him an unimpressed look.

“Fun,” Pete huffed. Even annoyed as he appeared, he didn’t let go of him, which didn’t escape Kao’s notice.

Kao snickered, reaching up to squeeze Pete’s shoulders, shake him around a little, “they teach you how to make sushi Pete, sushi! And pizza! And you get to drink wine while you cook, doesn’t that sound great?! I thought it’d be a cool thing we could do together…that’d also be useful since, I mean, you have plans to marry me, and I’m not marrying someone who can’t cook for me sometimes,”

Instead of arguing more, Pete took his face in his hands, kissed him till he went quiet and sagged against him, arms looped around his neck to hang onto him when Pete’s tongue swept over his own and made his knees go weak. Pete’s arms squeezed around his lower back, nearly lifting him off his feet before he pressed him back against the counter.

“Pete,” Kao whispered, head tipping back when Pete broke away and started mouthing down his neck, “should I take this as you wanting the lessons even though you whined about it,”

Pete’s smile stretched where it was on his throat, teeth dragging down.

“Pete,” he said again, feeling his brain short circuit when Pete started sucking at his pulse, “should I still get the lessons for you, babe?” He felt a shiver wrack through him, Pete’s thigh moved between his legs when Kao pressed closer, fingers lifting to thread through Pete’s hair to have something else to hold onto.

“Babe,”

Pete hummed, “sounds good to me,”

Kao laughed a little in his throat.

“Want to make you happy,” he said, randomly. It made Kao’s head go fuzzy.

“You’d take cooking lessons to make me happy,”

“Yeah, and if they’re my birthday present…”

“Ahh,” it was a win-win then, or so it sounded, “will you act surprised?”

Pete’s head popped up, grin blinding as it spread over his face, “you know I will,”

Kao leaned forward to give him another kiss, attention moving back to dinner after which lured Pete into doing the same.

When it was finished, he made a plate for Pete’s dad too, set it in the microwave for later and went to join Pete at the table. They sat close together, feet hooked together as they enjoyed their dinner, stealing bites off each other’s plates every so often and pretending like they hadn’t. It was nice and cozy and to think this was something he was fearful of just a few weeks ago. Now these things were so easy for him, he planned them, looked forward to them because they made them happy, made Pete nearly glow and Kao was all for the things that made Pete look at him like that. Like he didn’t want to let him go, couldn’t imagine what their life would be without each other. Now that they were so entwined, now that they were actively being boyfriends, it was better. This with Pete, was the best thing that had ever happened to Kao. And to think it just came from trying to figure out Pete’s love language and working to be a better boyfriend. He should’ve done this, ages ago.

xxx

After class, Kao surprisingly didn’t have any students so he asked Pete if he wanted to come to the mall with him so he could get a couple new binders and some more sticky notes, Pete made his standard fuss but caved when Kao stepped into his space and blinked at him slowly, whispering a soft, “please Pete,”

Worked like a charm every time.

The mall wasn’t busy, so they made their way around quickly, into the store Kao was looking for with little problem. He had his arms full, headed to the register when he saw Pete a few aisles away still browsing through the paper goods and random trinkets that this store had in excess when Kao spotted a rack of keychains. He smiled seeing all the different charms and animals of varying sizes and colors when he spotted a polar bear keychain and a whale one a few spots over from that. He grabbed them both and headed to check out before Pete could see them.

He hadn’t seen them or caught on to the tiny gift that Kao had gotten for him by the time they left, buying a book for himself and scolding Kao when he saw he’d already cashed out that he would’ve bought his stuff for him. Kao rolled his eyes at him, fiddling with the display of pens on the counter while Pete paid for his book and thanked the cashier. Brazenly, Kao took Pete’s hand to swing between them as they walked back through the mall, deciding to pick up noodles on their way home.

The keychains burned a hole in his pocket all the way to the food stand and then back to Pete’s and halfway through the movie that Pete put in to watch while they were eating. A few weeks ago, he would’ve obsessed over how to bring it up to Pete, embarrassing himself in the process for sure but now, he had confidence in abundance and no doubts about Pete’s love for him. So, he put his bowl on the table, made for his bag on the kitchen counter so he could get the keychain out and give it to Pete.

His boyfriend was watching him, tracking his movement as Kao flopped back beside him on the couch.

“I got you something at the store.” Kao said, refusing to shy away now, “here,”

He put the keychain in Pete’s open hand, watched him look it over before he smiled. “Is this…you?”

Kao laughed, nodding his head as he reached for the whale key chain in his own pocket to show Pete. “And this is you…don’t they remind you of us?”

Pete was giving him a look that Kao couldn’t figure out. And then he was leaning over to nuzzle into the side of his head, kissing the shell of his ear quickly before pulling away.

“Thank you, babe,” and then his smile went a little shit-eating, “I’ll think of you every time I start my car,”

Kao pushed him, “shut up,”

Pete laughed loudly in response to that, put the keychain safely on the table, shooting Kao a brief glance where he was sat glaring back at him, arms crossed over his chest.

“I’m not getting you any other gifts…ever again!”

“No baby, come on, I love the keychain and I love you, and I love that you were thinking of me,”

Kao huffed, sort of figured that Pete was just humoring him so he decided to ignore him and the chill that worked through him the closer Pete got to him with every word, “no, no more,”

“Please Kao, please, you have to,”

“No, I don’t!”

“Yes, you do, you promised me cooking lessons! Which I’m so looking forward to by the way,”

Kao pulled back a little so he could see Pete clearly, narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend, who was looking at him like he’d already won, and he knew it.

“We’ll see…” Kao grinned at Pete’s shocked look, darted forward to kiss him while he was still too stunned to do anything, grabbed his bowl to finish his dinner and pressed play on the movie.

He thought that went well all things considered. Even though Pete definitely thought the keychain was ridiculous and cheesy, he said he liked it and Pete didn’t usually lie to him. The next day though, he considered it a complete success, when he saw the polar bear keychain attached to Pete’s car keys. Pete saw him looking at it, raised his eyebrows but smiled at him.

“Thanks Pete,”

Pete reached out to take his hand, fingers threaded over the center console.

“Anything for you Kao,”

Kao squeezed his hand in response to that, held on tight to him, all the way to school.

xxx

He hadn’t considered it a gift before but in the context of love languages, coffee for Pete seemed like a gift. Because Pete liked it, needed it and relied on it to get him through his days so Kao could give it to him since he loved him and was thinking about him. It worked out. This week though, he brought him a coffee every day before class. And he didn’t give any excuses about it either, just handed it over to his boyfriend with a smile because he’d decided, loving Pete, thinking about Pete didn’t have to be excused. It was natural for him and he shouldn’t have to explain it away or even defend it. Lucky for him, Pete picked up on that and no longer asked what he’d done to deserve it, just smiled, took the coffee and depending on where they were at the time, sometimes he leaned in to kiss his cheek. But most times he’d glance around, smile dimming against the frown he wore when he realized there were plenty of people walking around them, busy on their way to classes. Then he’d walk the standard, friendly distance away from him as they made their way to their next class, squeezing Kao’s heart where it sat wrecked in his chest.

Its broke him every time he saw Pete do that because he was the reason for that look. His fear over other’s people’s judgment, other people who shouldn’t matter, forced him to stay hidden and kept Pete hidden too. It wasn’t fair.

He could test and love Pete as much as he wanted but how good of boyfriend did it make him if he still wasn’t willing to put himself out there for the person he loved? He was more important to him than anything else but what were the chances that Pete even believed that since they were still hiding themselves from the world? It made him think.

Really, really made him think. So hard in fact that it distracted him almost entirely from class. Which spelled trouble for him and his friends who no doubt, weren’t paying attention either.

Pete seemed a little more important than that though. Well, at least that’s what Kao would argue.

xxx

Kao had given it some thought. Well, more than just some. A lot of thought actually. Following the fourth coffee of the week, watching Pete’s face fall into ruin because he couldn’t kiss him as thanks. It destroyed him that this was destroying Pete so much. Especially since he was in a position where he could fix it, change it, make it better.

Which led him here.

The best gift he could think to give his boyfriend was freedom. Freedom to be with him around their friends and his family. Freedom to be out and proud, so he could know Kao was in, all in and not going anywhere. This and him were what he wanted, and he wasn’t afraid.

Well. He was a little. But he knew his mom and if he really thought about it, the chances that he’d lose her over this were slim. She loved him and his sister more than anything and he couldn’t fathom something that could make her stop loving him. He didn’t think he’d lose her over this, and he definitely wasn’t willing to lose Pete over it. Now that he was all in, so completely invested in Pete and being Pete’s boyfriend, it didn’t seem so scary. It seemed manageable, like he could do it and keep breathing afterward.

Pete deserved that. Deserved someone who was proud of themselves and proud to be his. And Kao was. Kao really was.

So, he came out to his mom. Told her that he liked guys and was in love with Pete, had been with him for years now, actually and she smiled. Told him that she loved him and that she’d always sort of known and asked him when he started laughing in relief if he thought she was blind? Kao shook his head because he didn’t think that. But apparently, he had, a little because she’d always seen the way he looked at Pete, and the way Pete looked back at him. It warmed him up, from his toes to his ears because she saw him and loved him and was proud to have a son like him. He wasn’t wrong or broken in her eyes, he was hers and she’d never loved him more, that felt really good.

He’d hugged her tight afterward, not really wanting to let her go but knew he wanted to see Pete too, give him the good news, so he told his mom he was going out and headed to Pete’s.

Pete’s dad opened the door for him with the knowing smile that still made him shy. He felt himself go red, thanking him quietly when he told him that Pete was upstairs in his room, took the stairs two at a time to get away from Pete’s dads teasing and get closer to Pete.

He let himself into his boyfriend’s room without knocking so Pete looked a little startled when the door banged open.

“Hey,”

Kao grinned, debated sitting or staying stood up. He opted for standing when Pete spun around in his desk chair, got up to pace to him.

“What’s up,”

“I have something to tell you,”

“Oh,” Pete’s face dropped a little, but he schooled it, plastered back on the smile that wasn’t real enough for Kao’s liking. “That doesn’t sound good,”

“It’s good, I promise,”

“Okay, do you wanna sit,” Pete asked, lowering to his bed but Kao stayed standing.

He didn’t prepare anything to say and it would only make Pete worry more if he stayed quiet or dragged it out. Just say it, just say the words, Pete has wanted this for so long, has wanted them to be a full-fledged couple who could be together and be themselves in front of anyone without Kao clamming up or pulling away from him. He was getting better at the last bit, now it was time for the rest of it.

“Kao, you’re freaking me out-”

“-I told my mom,”

Pete blinked, “wait, what?”

Kao took a deep breath, “I told my mom I’m gay, I told her about us,”

Pete looked confused for a split second before a smile, brighter than any Kao had seen before, lit up his face and he stood to be right in his space. And then his face dropped a little.

“Are you alright, what’d she say? Was she mad?”

“No, not at all,” Kao laughed, a relieved, almost unintentional burst of noise, “she told me she loves me and is proud of me and that she sort of knew about us…yeah,”

Pete pulled him close, laughed with him before asking, “how do you feel?”

He closed his eyes, let the relief and warmth fill him up as he dropped to lean against Pete’s shoulder. How did he feel? Good. Better. Amazing. Free. He was feeling a lot of things right now actually.

“Light and happy,”

Pete looked like those words out of his mouth were the very thing he’d been waiting to hear for three years.

“I like that,”

Kao smiled, wrapped his arms around Pete to hug him because he could and wanted to and didn’t want this moment to get away from them without it.

“I’m so proud of you Kao, I know that couldn’t have been easy,” Pete was busy rubbing circles into his lower back as he spoke, “do you…do you wanna talk about it, or not…we could do something, anything?”

Kao lifted his head so he could see Pete, so he could kiss him. Pete sagged into that for a bit before squeezing his hips and separating them a little.

“Anything babe?”

Kao hummed, “I think I’d like to go on a date with my boyfriend actually,”

Pete’s eyes lit up, “really?”

“Really,”

“Dinner?”

Kao nodded, let himself be tugged forward into Pete’s chest, back into another dizzying series of kisses before Pete was asking, “Shabu Shabu?”

“Sounds good to me,”

Pete looked the happiest that Kao had ever seen him as he took his hand, grabbed his wallet off his desk and led them out of his room. He told his dad they’d be back late when he perked up in his spot on the couch and waved.

This might not be a material gift, but it definitely mattered, to Pete and to them. And it was something for both of them, equally important to Pete as it was to Kao. Kao was just happy he was able to give it to him, and happy he could make Pete this happy, wondered why he was afraid of it at all.

xxx

Next came their friends.

Which after the reassuring, loving reaction his mom had and the way Pete hadn’t let go of him the whole night after, didn’t seem scary at all. The reactions of his two most important people gave him the boost he needed to approach their table at lunch. He smiled hearing Sandee chewing June out for something while Thada ignored them or tried to. Pete had a hand on his lower back, a warm, welcome weight, the final bit of encouragement he needed.

He cleared his throat, drawing Sandee’s attention quickly and June’s right after, probably glad for a distraction from the scolding and then Thada’s slowly followed as he scribbled the last bit of whatever he was writing and put his pen down.

“Are you not eating?” June asked, eyeing their lack of lunch.

“No, no we are, but we wanted to tell you something first,” Kao said, cleared his throat. “Uh…”

He looked to Pete for some back up, but he just smiled, probably wanted him to do it. Just a few words Kao, it’s not hard. Just say it. Just tell them, it’s not bad, it won’t be bad.

“Pete and I are dating, yeah,” he swallowed, looking at all of them individually to check their reactions. Each of them traded looks, smiling softly the longer Pete and Kao stood in front of them, not moving.

“Was that actually supposed to be a secret?” Thada asked, smiling so brightly that it made Kao flush while Pete’s hand rubbed his back in easy, deliberate strokes. He dropped to kiss Kao’s shoulder through his shirt, whispering, ‘ _see, totally fine_ ,’ because he had told him only a hundred times that they were friends with good people who would never love them less because of their sexuality. And Sandee, had known from the start, it wasn’t too surprising that they’d all known too, to some extent.

“How long have you guys known?” Kao asked, letting Pete guide him to the open spots next to June, who wouldn’t stop looking at them and grinning.

“I’ve known the whole time,” Sandee smirked, hand shot in the air. Pete brushed her off, sticking his tongue out at her smug look.

“We know you have,” Pete said, “what about you two,”

“Well, I always kind of thought something was going on, but I found out for sure last year and I asked June if he had noticed anything…he put it together after that,”

Kao felt foolish, let himself sag into Pete because he could do that now. But their friends had known pretty much the whole time and he’d wasted so much time with Pete being afraid.

“Why’d you never say anything?” Kao asked Thada.

He shrugged, “Wasn’t something that affected me, you two were clearly better together and I knew, if you wanted to say something, you would,” he took a breath, swirling his straw around in his drink before adding, “I do feel bad that you two felt you needed to hide this from us, I mean I can’t even tell you how many times you two looked like you were being tortured because you couldn’t touch each other…I wanted so badly to just tell you we knew so you didn’t have to hide anymore,”

June made a sound like he agreed and then said, “yeah, plus you two being gay is better for me! I mean that just means more action for me, with you two off the market,”

Sandee reach across the table to thump him with her notebook, told him to shut up, asking him who wanted him, before looking back to them with a fondness Kao could barely take.

“I’m really happy for you guys,” she said, and she looked it too, looked like they were her children, and this was all she’d ever wanted for them.

“Thanks San,” Pete smiled, hand reached out for Kao’s to thread their fingers together over the tabletop.

“Of course, dummy,”

Because his friends were amazing, that was that. They didn’t ask a dozen questions, they were just happy and thankful that they trusted them and didn’t mind that it had taken them so long to get here and didn’t harp on the fact that it was obviously Kao who was hesitant and not Pete. Because that didn’t matter. They mattered. Their happiness mattered.

It was, of course the week for gifts and Kao figured this counted as much as a material gift because of what it meant and how it made them feel. It made Kao feel amazing.

And just a single glance at Pete, told Kao that it had made him feel amazing too. Made him feel loved.

Which was what this was all about.

xxx

Giving Pete something that could compare to his coming out to his mom and their friends seemed nearly impossible to Kao but still he tried. Hearing that Pete had applied to an international internship and another that did their interviewing in English, the idea to get Pete a few books to help him practice, as well as make him some easy flashcards, seemed like a good thing to give him. And it was something that wouldn’t break the bank.

He had the two books and the flashcards stacked neatly on his desk while he did some homework and waited for Pete to be done at the pool, promised to meet at his house for some studying and maybe dinner, if his mom wanted to feed Pete too.

His boyfriend clamored into the room, saying something about his mom threatening him to stay for dinner or else, which made Kao smile, they were usually on the same wave length which was very reassuring.

He let out a long breath before coming up to greet him, “Hi babe,”

“Hey,” Kao leaned up into the kiss Pete dropped in his hair before he was tumbling onto his bed with a tired huff, bag falling to the floor. “Long day?”

Pete groaned, rolled to his side with a move that looked like it took all his energy to manage.

Kao pouted, stood up to move to the bed so he could lay with him, curled around his back, pressed his socked feet to the back of Pete’s calves and moved to kiss the back of his neck when Pete squeezed his hands where they’d landed over his stomach.

“Internship stress?” Kao asked, hoping to figure out what was going on so he could help.

Pete hummed, “just stress in general I guess, being an adult is hard…deciding what to do and where to go after college, it’s all so hard,”

“I know it is,” Kao said quietly, rubbing gentle circles against Pete’s stomach and arms when he came into contact with them. Maybe giving him a gift that was geared towards his internship and his future wasn’t such a good idea. He’d give it to him a different day, he didn’t want to make it worse.

And he stuck to that till his mom called them to come eat and Pete stood up, moved around his bed and past his desk, the flashcards must’ve caught his eye because he picked them up, looked through them then back at Kao.

“Are you brushing up on your English Kao?”

Kao smiled at him, “no, I made them for you, to practice…but you’re stressed about it, so I wasn’t going to give them to you tonight,”

Pete put them down, back on top of the books, paced towards him to wrap his arms around him tight, mouth met his easily. For a long, drawn out, breathless moment, Kao forgot about dinner, forgot about his mom calling them, forgot about the internships and the interviews and the stress that piled up as their rest of their lives closed in. He forgot about everything that wasn’t Pete.

Pete’s breathing was ragged when they pulled apart, “how do you do that?”

Kao pecked at him again, “do what?”

“Always know exactly what I need, when I need it, you have me down to a science and if I didn’t love you so friggen much, that might scare me a little,”

Kao brushed his hair back, held his head in his hands gently, felt himself glow under that comment. Because Pete felt loved with him, felt valued and appreciated, loved the way Kao loved him and that was amazing. He kissed him again because he was a little speechless actually.

“I got you a few books too, I’ve read that reading a familiar book in a foreign language is very helpful, and I know you’ve read these,” he pointed to the two books on his desk and accepted the next flurry of kisses that Pete gave to him. Smiled as Pete kept whispering, ‘love you, love you so much,’ or ‘good to me, don’t deserve you,’ which wasn’t true at all, but Kao wasn’t in a position to argue where Pete’s tongue was wrapping around his own.

This reaction, to such a simple gift was more than he’d expected, better than expected.

xxx

The last gift Kao had for Pete was also brought on from their impending internships. They weren’t going to be together which scared him a little but not too much, not now in the good place they were in. Still, it made him feel soft and encouraged him to gift his boyfriend something that would remind him not to forget him.

He had an empty picture frame in his room which he used to house the little collage he’d made of the pictures he’d taken of Pete and him while out on their date a while back, where Pete was helping him improve his photography skills. He liked them and couldn’t choose just one, so he cut out a bunch and glued them to a piece of paper to put them all inside. He knew it was cheesy and it might not be quite Pete’s style, but he’d also seen Pete’s bedroom, he loved pictures and loved pictures of Kao, so he sort of did it to himself, pigeon holed himself into receiving these sorts of cheesy gifts.

Giving it to Pete was easy, he told him he’d made him something, sat him down on the couch to pull the frame out of his backpack, put in its Pete’s hands, listened to his boyfriend stay silent.

That wasn’t the reaction he’d expected.

“I know you don’t want to think about the internships or the future, and I hear that…but this was just…well, we’re obviously gonna get different internships and end up in different places, I don’t think you’ll forget me, but this is just to make sure you remember not to,”

Pete stayed quiet, longer than Kao was prepared for. He didn’t know what to do now that Pete was sat frozen on the couch not saying a word about his gift.

“Pete,” he whispered, a little afraid to disturb whatever was happening with him in case it spelled trouble for him. “You don’t like it?”

Pete shook his head, his eyes looked wet when he finally looked up at him.

Kao scooted closer to him, laid his hands on his leg, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I love it,” he answered quietly, voice sounded like he hadn’t used it ages. “I just don’t understand what I did to deserve you being so good to me,”

Kao leaned closer to him, smiling but Pete pulled back. He was upset? Or he was really asking because he didn’t know.

“What?”

“Nothing,”

“Pete, you love me that’s what you did,”

Pete shook his head.

“Never mind,” he whispered, “thank you babe, I love it.”

He felt like he was being thrown around, whiplash threatening his poor neck with the way his boyfriend was acting.

“Pete, if you have something to say, just say it, okay, I’m not going anywhere,” he promised, hoped that and his presence beside him was enough to get Pete to tell him why he reacted that way. He hadn’t had a bad reaction to anything this week, except maybe the idea of cooking lessons but that seemed more for his benefit. This felt real and bad.

“Doesn’t matter Kao,”

“It matters to me, what is it?”

Pete took a breath. Then another. Then another before he was chancing a look over at him again, he looked so serious when he did. “You might not like it,”

Kao’s stomach dropped but he vowed to be there for Pete, take all of him, good and bad, he wasn’t going to back out of that now. They were in this together and that meant riding out the bad days and having not so ideal conversations.

“Tell me anyway,” he didn’t care if it was bad. If it made him feel any sort of way, he’d rather Pete not feel bad anymore because of it, not if he could help it.

“I used to wish for this,” Pete said, head ducked, his fingers were running over the glass of the frame again and again, like the pictures behind it were giving him what he needed to go on and if he looked away from them, he’d lose his way. “For you to love me like this, to give me things and spend time with me. I used to dream about you coming out to your family and friends and us planning for our future…I only ever dreamed about it because I didn’t think I’d get to have it. Not like this. Which is a horrible thing to think about a person who’s so good and kind and perfect. You are perfect Kao but sometimes I wondered if maybe we weren’t perfect for each other. And then I’d push those thoughts away, because you’re literally everything to me, I didn’t want to know me without you, it didn’t matter what we had because when it was good it was really good and I shouldn’t be wishing for something else, this was enough…” he took a breath, “and it felt wrong to think those things which is why I never told you because you are so good and I’m so lucky to have you at all. Knowing that and reminding myself of that while my head was telling me, it could be better, he’ll never kiss you in front of his mom or be your boyfriend at school…I didn’t think those things could exist together. I was happy, I’ve always been happy with you but lately I’ve just been thinking about all the things I used to wish for and it’s weird…to have them,”

Kao wasn’t sure what to say to that. Luckily, he didn’t have to come up with anything because Pete kept going.

“I’m sorry. I know that’s horrible but now, lately, it’s like all the things I’ve thought, or dreamed about, they’re coming true but I don’t understand what changed…did I do something or admit all this in my sleep and now you’re doing this and being mine in ways I never imagined before, it doesn’t make sense,”

Pete looked up at him then, reached out with a breathless murmur of his name to swipe across his cheek. He was crying, he hadn’t felt himself start crying but he definitely was, sniffling and rubbing into Pete’s hands when they touched him. Not because he was angry or wrong but because he was right, and Kao knew that. He’d known for weeks that he was a less than ideal boyfriend to Pete, it was just a lot, hearing Pete say it out loud. He recognized the changes and noticed how Kao was trying to be different. It was jarring. He should’ve known that Pete would eventually say something about all this to him. He wasn’t one to shy away from the difficult truth and never feared things that were hard to say, he said them louder because they were hard. He deserved to be called out. But he’d admit that a tiny part of him had hoped that Pete would just accept the new Kao and not bring up the differences and how their relationship had changed.

“I’m sorry,” Pete said, “that’s so shitty and you deserve better babe,”

“No Pete,” Kao grabbed his hand, “no, you deserved better which I realized, that’s why I’ve been different. I’ve committed myself to being better to you in any and all ways I can think of. I know you’ve been stuck with a less than ideal partner, this is the new Kao, I’m dedicated to you Pete, I want you for however long you’ll have me, it just bothered me that I wasn’t doing anything to make sure that future you’ve talked about came to us. Relationships take two people, I know that, this is me actively being your boyfriend, I’m sorry it took me so long,”

Pete shook himself, really looked like he felt bad for admitting the less than perfect thoughts he’d had about him. But Kao didn’t mind them, he liked knowing that Pete wasn’t blinded by his love for him and could still hold him to certain standards, still loved him enough to expect more from him. He was determined to rise to that, to meet and exceed his expectations. Be the best boyfriend.

“Kao, you’re the best person I know,”

“Am I?”

“Yes, you are, and I feel horrible that I ever had those thoughts about you, about us, like you aren’t the best thing that ever happened to me,” he did really look awful about it, “you’re everything and I’m just selfish,”

Kao tipped his head at him, “I don’t think that’s selfish Pete. I think it’s honest and real that you’d wonder about the state of our relationship and my worth as a boyfriend. A good person can still be a bad boyfriend…I saw that in me and decided to fix it because you deserve someone who loves you, not just quietly but blatantly, without hesitation or worry. I was afraid for a really long time but I’m not anymore, I’m yours Pete…I hope this wasn’t all too little too late though, I hope you still love me the same,”

Pete looked at him for a long, charged moment before he said, “shut up…sorry, but are you crazy?”

Kao shrugged, “don’t know,”

“You’re an idiot,”

He laughed a little, realizing Pete wasn’t upset with him, not really, he was just trying to figure out what the changes meant for them. Seeing that they meant only good things, he relaxed, reached back for him and held him tight to him too.

“Your idiot,”

Pete grinned, nodded his agreement as he said, “my idiot,”

“Do you like the picture,”

“I love the picture,” he leaned close to nudge their noses together, “and I love you. Seriously Kao, I love you so much, more than ever,”

“Really?”

“Really, I just…wanted to know what brought this all on, if it’s because you love me and wanted to be better to me, I accept that,” Kao smiled back at the look he was giving him, “as long as you’ll accept me being better to you too, I mean god knows I’m not perfect and you love me anyway,”

Kao couldn’t fight the smile that stretched across his face, melted into the kiss Pete gave him, picture frame dug into his legs when Pete pressed closer.

He was glad they could talk like that, thankful for all the progress as people they’d made and made together so they could call each other on shit and be better after. Pete recognized that he’d been different but didn’t see it as a bad thing, he loved it and loved him and wanted to make sure it was real and lasting. If the tables were turned, he probably would’ve wondered the same thing. He did feel bad that he’d left Pete in such a weird place in their relationship for so long that he had fantasies about his dream boyfriend, since he clearly didn’t exist in front of him. Now, Kao hoped he did. He hoped he didn’t have to dream about those things anymore, he hoped he fit and worked and met what Pete was expecting.

They’d come a long way, together. Which was the thing Kao was most thankful for, that they could be together now, after neither of them had been the best at being boyfriends, after all their struggles, they still had each other.

“That was a lot from picture Pete,” he whispered, head tucked against Pete’s shoulder later, frame safe on the table.

“I know,” he sounded sorry for turning his thoughtful gift into that, but Kao was glad he said it, they could move on now, without anything holding them back. Both of them on the same page. “I’m gonna be better too,” Pete said, “did I say that already? Because if you’re going to spoil me, it’s only fair that I spoil you too,”

Kao didn’t argue with that, though he did worry what it meant for his last week of love language testing. He decided not to think about it too much, knowing whatever Pete came up with to ‘spoil him’ wouldn’t be bad or hard to get through, and he could work it into his last few tests without any problem. He was getting really good at rolling with things and adapting. He wondered if Pete had picked up on that too.

Maybe he’d even noticed how Kao was taking cues from him, treating being his boyfriend like an act as easy as breathing. If he asked, Kao would tell him. That he learned that from him. 

xxx

All in all, Kao would say this week had been a success. For a multitude of reasons. A multitude of really good reasons. Though he wasn’t sure if gifts were Pete’s love language, he could make a case for it, but he’d definitely gotten different, more intense reactions from other tests. That was okay, giving and receiving gifts were a part of a healthy relationship and Kao would be sure to work it in continuously in the future, even if it wasn’t his love language. Because Pete deserved well-rounded and devoted, he deserved all this and more. And later in life, maybe Kao would be able to give him bigger, grander things, more than coffee or flashcards. Not that those things were bad, they were what made them up right now. He was okay with that. He was fine with giving Pete a keychain and a picture of them, especially since he knew, no matter how much money came to him later in life, no other gift would be able to compare to his coming out to his mom and their friends.

That was the best gift, one he wouldn’t even try to upstage later on. He knew for him and Pete, there was no touching that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! I shall see you for the next part, Quality Time!


	6. With Quality Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After gifts there was quality time. With that also came a change in his relationship with Pete that Kao couldn’t be mad about at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! This took me way longer than i ever wanted it to, also it's heftier than i intended but i love Kao and Pete a whole lot and got carried away. Also, took some liberties here, Kao doesn't have an internship lined up right away and then he and Pete have a conversation about working for his dad, which if i remember correctly is what Kao in DBK did. And I wasn't sure what Pete's internship was supposed to be but i took the english interview stuff and ran with it. I hope the changes are alright and i hope you enjoy this chapter.   
> Thank you for reading and your patience between this chapter and the last!   
> Enjoy! xx

After gifts there was quality time. With that also came a change in his relationship with Pete that Kao couldn’t be mad about at all. He’d started this after all, and Pete was starting his own mission with him right back. When Kao would initiate contact, Pete wouldn’t let him go. When Kao asked him what he wanted to do that day Pete would gather him up, kiss him before whispering that he already had something planned. If Kao was quiet Pete wouldn’t hesitate to manhandle him around a little, lifting his feet into his lap so he could rub them, fingers digging up and down his arches till Kao forgot what started his bad mood to begin with.

They were in a different place now entirely. He was aware of the hurt he’d caused Pete being cagey about their relationship for so long and Pete knew of his struggles being out and proud and himself. The air was clear with them now, they were invested and in love in a very free, real way they hadn’t been before. Kao loved it. He loved the changes, loved being loved by this Pete who knew he wasn’t afraid anymore, loved being in love like this. It was next level.

xxx

There wasn’t so much testing anymore as there had been because he wasn’t pushing the boundaries of his relationship as much as he was just being Pete’s boyfriend. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t still curious about Pete’s love language because he was. If anything, he was even more committed to this quest of his to love Pete best and be a really good boyfriend to him. This journey had led them to the final piece, quality time which Kao was decidedly not worried about at all. Partly because he and Pete were in such a good place and because he loved spending time with Pete. He believed that this week and all the weeks going forward wouldn’t be a problem for him at all.

For the sake of this, the last stage just meant one on one time, being present when you were together, just the two of them without interruptions or distractions. It meant being alone and going on dates and walks and talking and being attentive to each other as a couple.

All aspects of love languages seemed to lead back to being attentive Kao had noticed. Which made sense since to be a good partner, you had to pay attention and be present. You had to take note of the things your significant other wanted and actively love them. If you didn’t, you were slacking off and that meant you were in trouble, your relationship was in trouble. Kao hadn’t even realized that his relationship was in such a state at first until he started working to be a better boyfriend. It showed him all the ways he wasn’t paying attention to Pete and that wasn’t any way to be in a relationship.

So, this week he was going to spend time with Pete one on one, go on dates and walks and talk to each other and just be boyfriends. It seemed like an appropriate place to end all of this because this was a chance to truly just be Pete’s boyfriend. Spend time with him. Love him. Be his. It worked and he was excited.

xxx

When they found out for sure that Pete got the international internship he’d applied for, things got real. Like real, real. The mere thought of him being so far away for such an extended period of time had Kao stressed and scared. But this was something Pete had worked so hard for and he was ridiculously proud of him. He’d have his first few weeks in Bangkok before they let him experience their other offices. Which meant Pete would be put up in Tokyo, then Seoul and then Chicago to see how business was run in different parts of the world, to get the full experience. Kao was so excited for him, but he was also going to miss him like crazy. Though, the news that he got this internship worked out remarkably well with the fact that he was going to explore the world of quality time and how he could use it to be as close to Pete as he could be before he left. At least he’d be in Bangkok for a few weeks before Kao had to put him on a plane and try not to worry about every little thing while he was away.

The afternoon they’d found out had found him in a funny mood. He’d put his internship plans on hold after his stressful year, decided to work for a while and get himself together. He was okay with that, really. It felt like the best option for him right now but something about watching everyone else in his life pick up and move on had him feeling some sort of bad way. He kept reminding himself that this was fine, that this plan was perfect for him right now, but it was ridiculously hard when he was staring down an immediate future that wouldn’t have Pete within a few miles of him at any given time. He’d worked so hard, for so long and this was making him feel like he was losing him and what they had anyway. So, yeah, he felt a little lost with all this.

His wonderful boyfriend was, _wonderful_ , and had picked up on how something was wrong pretty quickly.

“Kao,”

“Yeah?”

Pete plopped down onto his bed next to him, both of them dressed and ready to go out to dinner, per his dad’s request to celebrate.

“You know you’re allowed to feel whatever it is you’re trying to keep a lid on,” he reached out to run his hand down his back.

Kao nodded, looked at his hands in his lap and wondered why he was feeling like this. He knew they’d be okay. They were in such a good place that he didn’t have any fears about this ruining them, if anything it would bring them even closer because of how much they’d miss each other. But there was an undeniable anxious energy stirring inside him, making him feel itchy, frantic while at the same time painfully, hollow. It made him feel like he should keep his guard up and his eyes open because what good would come of this? His anxiety and fear over the former instabilities in their relationship, how easy it would be for them to rock them apart, were back. Like they’d never left. His inadequacy as a partner was staring him in face while he thought about Pete and the life he was walking towards, while Kao planned to stay right here. It was like he hadn’t worked so hard to be better, everything that happened the last few months seemed to vanish as he thought about his panic induced reality. It didn’t matter that it might not happen or that he and Pete were in the best place they’d ever been in, his head was working against him. And it definitely wasn’t listening to his reminders. Poor Pete, again, here he was, deserving better and all he got was Kao.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Pete asked, leaning closer like Kao being able to feel him right there would fix things and change the pace up for him. It worked a little, allowed Kao to relax and breathe. He actively focused on that, on Pete next to him, on his hands that were continuously stroking his back and rubbing his leg where it was pressed to his. Kao leaned into him, felt himself giving in to Pete while the part of him that wasn’t being taken apart by the stress of all this wanted to laugh. Pete wanted to talk about feelings? He wanted to have a conversation that might be difficult and uncomfortable? It was crazy how he was willingly walking into something like that, offering himself up to talk about things. They’d changed so much, for the better of course but it was still wild for Kao to think about all the ways they were different and better.

“Who are you and what did you do with my Pete?” He teased so he didn’t immediately have to give in to what he was feeling and why.

Pete smiled against his shoulder when he ducked into him, “I’m right here. Just trying to be what you need,”

Kao took a deep breath as he looked up at him, stared at him, actually because he couldn’t help it and he wasn’t sure how to look away either. It wouldn’t be the end of the world to give in to this, how bad he was feeling because like Pete said, he was right there, being exactly what he needed. Ready to be something different if he changed his mind. Kao, honestly, just needed him.

“I’m gonna miss you,” he whispered, ignored the way his voice gave out a little over the words.

That lit Pete up from the inside, “I’m gonna miss you too,”

Kao pressed closer, head resting against Pete’s.

“I’m gonna be back though, you know that, right?”

He hummed because he did know but he also knew that those plans could change. What if Seoul was sparkly and awesome and he didn’t want to leave? What if he worked so well with the office in Chicago that they wanted him to stay? What if they offered him a position in one of their satellite offices and he didn’t come back? Even through all their problems, Kao hadn’t really considered a future that didn’t have Pete in it. He’d always believed that they’d fix things. Now that they had, he really couldn’t imagine a life that didn’t have Pete in it, right there beside him. Maybe he should try to though. Oh god, he really didn’t want to.

“Yeah,”

“Kao,” Pete insisted, “I am going to be back,”

He was quiet for a beat, deciding if he wanted to make his success, getting this internship, about him or if just wanted to keep quiet. It’d all work out the way it was supposed to.

“Hey, look at me,” Kao did, met Pete’s warm, slightly concerned eyes, “I’ll be back,”

“I know,”

“This, for me, is about the experience okay. I know what I want, and you, though I know you don’t like me basing decisions on you, you are a huge factor in all the decisions I make. I love you and if I have a choice between a job that’ll land me across the world and a job wherever you are, I wouldn’t even have to think about it. It’s always, _always_ gonna be you,”

“Pete,”

“Okay?”

He hit his chest gently but kept his hand there afterward, fingers curling into his shirt to pull him in. He wanted to argue, wanted to tell him that that was crazy, and he was equally, if not more so but he couldn’t find the words to. It was reassuring to hear that he was so important. There was a time when he would’ve scolded Pete for disregarding chances for him but today, right now, it’s what he needed. He loved him so much and he needed him, and he wanted that future that they’d talked about.

“Okay,”

“My life is where you are. So, after this internship is up, if they want to offer me a position in Bangkok, great, if not there’s tons of other companies here that I can apply to. And there’s always my dad’s company as a backup. I’ll be fine but I think you underestimate how much that relies on whether or not I have you,”

“Okay Pete, I get it,”

“I need you, I’ll always need you,”

“Stop it,”

“What you don’t like being complimented?”

Kao butted his head into Pete’s, “I can’t handle it,”

“I’m just being honest, I figured that that came standard with the new Kao and Pete,”

He didn’t have anything to say to that, too busy dealing with the way his heart was racing too fast inside him and how fuzzy his head was at Pete’s sweetness to come up with anything coherent anyway. So, instead he kissed him, hands squeezing Pete where they landed on him to keep him close.

“I love you,” he whispered when they pulled apart, “and I need to spend copious amounts of time with you before you leave,”

Pete grinned, “that doesn’t sound horrible,”

Kao hit him, standing from the bed so they could meet Pete’s dad downstairs before he came up to get them. He still couldn’t take the teasing so he found ways to avoid it, like not giving him the opportunities which meant they had to go downstairs to meet him before he could find in any one of Pete’s many favorite comprising positions. He’d obsess over it all dinner if he had to come retrieve them.

He did give them each a look when they rushed down the stairs on each other’s heels, but Kao hurried outside to the car before he could say anything. He could hear their laughter behind him and figured the best way to shut them up, or at least shut up his boyfriend was to take his spot in the passenger seat.

Of course, it worked the way he thought it would. Pete pouted all the way to the restaurant while Kao and his dad laughed at him from the front seat.

xxx

Following their conversation, the other day, the pair of them were in agreement that they’d just spend all the time they could together before Pete became an official adult and Kao wouldn’t see him as often. Which, unbeknownst to Pete, fit in perfectly with his plan to see how he’d react to quality time. Was it his love language, Kao had yet to see but what he knew for sure, was that he loved spending time with Pete and was glad for any and all opportunities where he got to do just that. And he knew that Pete enjoyed spending time with him too.

Today, they were lounging on his bed. They’d slept in, later than Kao ever liked to but then Pete had blown him before working him open slowly, took him apart till Kao was breathless and sweaty. Those weren’t things Kao was really able to argue against very well.

Now, sated and clearly pleased with himself, Pete looked like he had exactly zero intention of going anywhere or doing anything, he sort of seemed like he was planning to go back to sleep, but Kao had sort of gotten his hopes up to do something. Leave the house or the very least get out of bed. He wasn’t complaining about the earlier activities, of course, but the sun was shining, and his stomach was growling, they could be lazy later. 

“Let’s do something,” he offered, rolling so he could prop himself up to see Pete, reaching out to drum his fingers against Pete’s collarbones.

Pete was laying on his back, looking so relaxed that Kao felt a little bad about even thinking about disturbing him. His eyebrows jumped, expression playful as he looked at him, “we already did,”

Kao rolled his eyes, swatted him because he was always like that. Why was he always like that? He didn’t think Pete could be hornier than he was before, but this Pete was giving the Pete he’d dated for the last few years a run for his money. Which was shocking and a little exhausting, honestly.

“Pete,” he whined.

Pete laughed, tightened his arms around him.

“Let’s do something,”

He hemmed and made a show of thinking about it for a moment till he squeezed him harder and asked, “what’d you want to do?”

Kao couldn’t contain the successful burst of laughter he let out, “we could go out to eat or pick up something and eat in the park,”

Pete’s nose scrunched, “In the park?”

“Or something,” Kao deflated the tiniest bit. But Pete noticed and pulled him closer, nudged at him with his nose till Kao sagged forward. He pressed a kiss to the top of Kao’s head, his breath sent chills racing across his skin when he spoke.

“Is that what you want to do? Have lunch in the park?”

“I want to do _anything_ Pete, that isn’t laying here all day…and it was just a suggestion, we could go anywhere,”

Pete didn’t sound super thrilled about the idea. Or maybe he just wasn’t thrilled about leaving the comfort and warmth of his bed, but it looked really nice out and Kao wanted to do something. Wanted to go on a date. Sure, laying here, wrapped around each other counted as quality time but they’d been here all morning, he needed a change of scenery.

“Please Pete?” he asked, game to play a little dirty if it got Pete moving and got him something to eat. He shuffled closer to brush his nose up Pete’s throat, mouthing over his jaw till he could kiss his cheek a few times, “please,”

Pete groaned, arching a little to roll him over, “do you really want to leave babe?”

“Yes,” he reached out to brush his fingers through Pete’s hair, soft from the shower he took last night but fuzzy from sleeping on it. “I’m hungry Pete, we can get lunch and bring it back, how about that?”

Pete hummed instead of answering outright, ducked down to kiss him so thoroughly it made his mind click off. With a plan he could apparently get behind, Pete hopped up, off the bed to get dressed. While Kao, because he was so crazy about him, couldn’t help watching him for a moment. He was so handsome and looked good in just about anything. But Kao figured he could wear a paper bag and he’d still think he was the most attractive person on the planet.

Pete was across the room, with a shirt slipped on but still unbuttoned, light blue fabric made him look extra appealing and the way everything he did, every movement he made seemed to be calculated, precisely to get Kao’s attention, he made that look effortless too. Though maybe it only worked that way because of how gone Kao was for him. Kao smiled watching him shake out a pair of pants and hop into them. He was just starting to zip them up when he turned and caught him still laying in his spot, watching him. He smirked at him, in the way that made Kao’s ears warm up.

“Thought you were hungry,” he said simply, stalked to him to lean over him. Kao wiggled closer to his body heat, feeling his stomach flutter when the side of Pete’s shirt draped over him. He was so mushy today, lingering on the edge of deep feelings and thoughts that were too extreme to go well with lunch. Luckily Pete was right there, being gentle and himself so Kao could feel what he was feeling and not worry that it was too much or not the right time. Pete leaned down to kiss his shoulder, his hands were warm where they brushed across his skin, squeezing his sides because he was ticklish and that would make him move.

Kao flopped sideways, kicking a little so he’d stop trying to tickle him, “I am,”

“Come on baby,”

He hummed, nuzzled his face into his pillow for one more moment.

“Get up, come on, made me get up and everything,” he tugged him to the edge of the bed, bent to toss him his underwear from the floor.

After they were dressed and cleaned up a little, they were off. Kao kept close to him all the way to his car, feeling lost when he couldn’t keep in contact with him, but Pete remedied that the moment they were both buckled, taking his hand in his so Kao could pull it into his lap to hold it with both his own while Pete reversed out of the driveway.

It was wild to him, how a little effort and attention paid to their relationship had left them obsessed with each other. Kao needed him like he’d never needed him before. They’d never had a honeymoon phase per say because they’d kept their relationship quiet at the start and even though Pete had always been super attached and attracted to him, the secrecy had forced them to be careful and cagey in public. Now though, they weren’t living by anyone else’s rules but their own which had found them in a state of bliss the likes of which Kao had never known. Maybe something that was even better than that though was how Kao didn’t have to explain his new willingness to be the best boyfriend anymore. Sure, they talked about it, but all Pete really needed to hear was that he loved him and wanted to be better for him. He hadn’t pressed for more, had only made sure he knew that he had plans to spoil him too. It was nice. Not being questioned and just being accepted. Kao liked that most.

After they picked up something to eat from one of the food stalls outside the park, Kao had every intention of heading back to the car till Pete pulled him around. A giddy smile plastered over his face while he dragged him down the sidewalk, into the park.

“What are you doing?”

“You said something about wanting to eat in the park, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Kao felt himself light up, “but you didn’t seem too interested in that,”

Pete made a noise, squeezed his hand, “ _you wanted to though_ ,”

Kao laughed, pressed his face into his shoulder as they kept walking. Pete’s reason for so many things these days was if it would make him happy or not. If it would, he’d do it. If not, he’d do something else. It was enough to make Kao feel light and ridiculous and loved like he never imagined possible.

“I did, yeah,”

Pete bumped him with his shoulder, “then that’s good enough for me,”

He watched the gentle, satisfied way that Pete was looking at him while he led them to a cluster of picnic tables set back under some trees. He helped him lay out their food, spilt up their utensils and handed him a couple napkins as they sat to start eating. It was so normal and nice. Eating a meal in a park with his boyfriend, after spending most of the morning wrapped around each other, it seemed so simple. But it was also something Kao wouldn’t have done, wouldn’t have allowed a few months ago. He had made so many rules that Pete just followed blindly because he loved him, and Kao never thought anything about that. Now, he tried really, really hard to do the most he could to not live by rules anymore. He didn’t ever want to be like that again, that wasn’t a way to love. That wasn’t a relationship. The way they were now, this felt like a relationship and Kao never wanted to give it up.

They didn’t talk too much while they were eating but they kept their fingers laced and their ankles hooked the whole time so that made up for the quiet. And after they’d finished, Pete suggested they take walk, after they’d gotten rid of their garbage. They wandered for a while, hand in hand till Pete pulled them to another cluster of trees where they could settle in the grass to relax for a bit. After Pete had settled, he patted the space between his legs for Kao to sit which earned him a funny look from Kao but after he didn’t relent, Kao sighed and moved to sit with him. He tried his best to seem put out by the mere idea of sitting like that but found it difficult when he realized how close he’d get to be to Pete. His arms would probably wrap around him and Pete would tuck his face against his shoulder to breathe him in because he always did that. The second he hit the ground, Pete’s hands gripped him to pull him back, fingers lacing over his stomach to keep him there, as expected.

He could practically feel how smug Pete was that he hadn’t fought him, holding him tight when Kao wiggled to recline back against him. He remembered so vividly how something like this never would’ve happened before all this. Today, he didn’t even have to remind himself too much that this was good because he knew it was good, he could feel it. And in this moment the parts of him that were happy and warm and loved meant there wasn’t room for anything else. Without doubt clouding his head he could just enjoy the sunshine on his legs and the solid weight of his boyfriend behind him. Kao could feel his heart beating steady where he had his fingers curled around his wrist, could feel his smile when he ducked to rest his head against his shoulder.

“So, is this the agenda till I leave for my internship,” Pete asked, squeezing him a little when Kao wiggled. Under his breath, Kao caught him saying, “ _copious amounts_ ,”

“You’d like that,”

Pete hummed, nose pressed to the back of his neck, “I would but something tells me you would too,”

Kao twisted to look back at him, over his shoulder, “I might,”

“Oh, you might?”

Kao grinned at him, he couldn’t help it. He didn’t have to either because they were both going to miss each other and they both needed to get their fill of each other before he left. He leaned into him more, content to just relax under the shade of some trees while people walked their dogs and some kids played a game a little way away.

He was busy playing with Pete’s fingers, when Pete brushed his lips over his ear, “I should’ve brought my camera,”

He was warm and maybe a little too sleepy for proper conversation so he just hummed, to let Pete know he was listening but couldn’t muster up words right now.

Pete lifted their joined hands to point across the park. Kao followed his hand to see a few trees in full bloom, the sunlight filtered over them lighting up the soft pink flowers and bright green leaves.

Idly, like he wasn’t fully aware he’d said it all, Pete murmured, “you look good against green,”

That jolted him into full awareness enough that he laughed, “what?”

“What?”

“I look good against green? What?”

Pete huffed, “your skin with green is nice…shut up,”

Kao laughed harder as his boyfriend clammed up behind him.

“Well you look good in blue,” Kao offered, pinching the fabric of his shirt between his fingers to prove his point, “which you obviously know,”

Pete didn’t say anything which meant Kao was right. He knew he was.

When they left the park, Pete lagged behind him a little bit, phone in hand. Kao knew what he was doing but he also knew better than to tell him to stop because that would only encourage him. He only stopped when Kao whined at the end of the pathway out of the park, hand outstretched for Pete’s. His boyfriend, finally joined him, pocketed his phone to thread their fingers together instead, pulled Kao close to his side as they made their way back to his car and back to Pete’s, where they laid around some more before they decided to make dinner together. Pete’s dad had a dinner with a client, so it was just the two of them, moving around each other easily, touching excessively and getting distracted. Pete hated not taking advantage of a timer, which to him still meant an allotted amount of time to make out so he gathered Kao in his arms, moved with him when Kao hopped onto the counter and proceeded to take full advantage of the 30 minutes, they had to themselves before dinner was done.

It was everything. Even when Pete tried to grab the pan out of the oven with just a towel and nearly burnt himself. He pouted all the way to the sink, where Kao coaxed his hand under cold water and kissed his cheek till, he said he was okay. Dinner was great because he’d made it with Pete and his goofball of a boyfriend expected to be fed and pampered because he’d hurt himself cooking this meal for him. That earned him a look, but Kao loved him enough to indulge him. Even cleaning up wasn’t bad and the dishes were plenty, but easy to get through because there was Pete to splash and to hit with a handful of suds because it made him squeal in an embarrassing, un-Pete-like way.

It was perfect in the sort of way that only time spent solely in Pete’s company, could be.

That night when Kao was waiting for Pete to come to bed, he rolled over into Pete’s side of the bed to unplug Pete’s phone so he could charge his own. When the screen lit up, he saw that Pete had changed his background from a picture of the two of them, snuggled close together in the frame, one afternoon when he’d conned him into taking the bus, to a picture of just Kao. It was one he’d taken this afternoon when he’d fallen behind him, Kao had been walking ahead of him just a little way. He had a gift of sorts, for finding light and making him look better than Kao thought he ever did. The sun was creating a sort of halo around him, while he was mid turn, only slightly facing away from Pete. He knew that he was probably in the process of turning around fully, intent on asking for Pete’s hand so they could walk together. But you couldn’t tell that from the picture. Instead, he just looked blissful in the afternoon sunshine, his profile lit up in a smile that spoke of a happy afternoon spent with his boyfriend. And of course, the backdrop of lush park, plenty of trees meant lots of green. Maybe Pete had a point. He didn’t look bad against green.

When Pete came back, he threw himself onto the bed, making the phone fall out of Kao’s hand onto the mattress. Pete crawled over him till he was crouched over his back, weight pressed against him.

“What are you doing?”

Kao didn’t turn around, just moved his head to the side when Pete’s lips pressed to the side of his neck.

“Oh,” Pete hummed, not sounding sorry for his sneaky pictures or for how shameless of a boyfriend he was. “Green, right?”

He laughed, locked his phone before putting it back on the table, rolling over and then over again so he could lay on top of Pete. His boyfriend looked thrilled about that, wrapped his arms tight around him and didn’t let him go.

xxx

After the success Kao had had the other day with his date with Pete to say he was looking forward to the movie they were going to see would be a total understatement. He was ridiculously excited. For no other reason than he got to hold Pete’s hand in the movie theater, share space with him, snuggle against him while doing something as mundane as seeing a movie. It just sounded so good.

And he remained excited all the way up to the point when they were waiting in line for tickets, talking quietly about their days and then his plans of a nice night out with Pete were shattered. He’d never considered the downside to telling their friends that they were dating would be anything other than a lack of acceptance. Instead it turned out that their excessive, enthusiastic acceptance meant crashing dates and showing up where they weren’t necessarily wanted in the moment.

It clearly amused Pete to no end when Sandee, Thada and June showed up to join them in line, all of them firing questions rapidly about what they were seeing and if two of them should break off to get snacks, so they didn’t have to wait twice. He caught Pete looking at him where his face had pulled into a slight pout, leaned into him when he wrapped an arm around his shoulders to pull him closer.

Pete kept getting closer and closer till his nose was tucked against his temple and he was whispering, “it’s okay babe,”

Kao nudged him back, “I know,”

“If we’re disgusting enough, they might not even sit with us,” he offered, eyebrows arched in the way that spoke of mischief and embarrassment for Kao that would inevitably lead to his inability to look his friends in the eye for a while.

“I’m not scarring our friends Pete,”

Pete pouted at him, pulling him forward in line when it moved. “Why not?”

“Because,”

“Because why?”

Kao tsked at him, reaching out to pinch his side but held his shirt between his fingers after so he couldn’t get away.

After they’d gotten tickets, Pete and Thada offered to get snacks while the rest of them could head into the theater.

“Popcorn babe,”

Kao nodded after him, “and something to drink,”

He squeezed him before letting him go with a, ‘ _you got it_ ,’ leaving him with Sandee and June to go find good seats. Kao debated sitting closer than he liked to because he knew that Thada didn’t like being too close to the screen, that would at least award them some alone time. But the thought of the headache he’d suffer from it didn’t seem worth it in the end. He could hold Pete’s hand no matter where they were sitting, and he’d have popcorn for ammunition if anyone teased them.

Sandee settled beside him initially, putting her hands up as if to say, _I’ll move when Pete comes, don’t worry_. “Are you mad?”

Kao looked over at her, took a second to blink at her slowly before saying, honestly, “no,” because he wasn’t mad. It was a little annoying to have his date crashed but they loved their friends so much and if he had to spend a night with anyone, date wrecked, they were a fine change of plans honestly. He’d still pout about it a little, just because he was sour. Not angry though, just sour.

“The boys latched onto the movie night idea after Pete mentioned it, I tried to talk them down but then June, of all people,” she tossed a look over her shoulder at his whining, “said we wouldn’t have too many more chances to hang out as a gang before we all went to our internships,”

And just like that Kao felt immediately better about his date being crashed. It was really hard to be angry when they put it like that. He smiled at them both, said, “I’m gonna miss you guys too,”

It made June light up a few seats away, till Thada was there swatting him to sit back so he could sit next to Sandee.

“San!” Pete yelled, “you’re in my seat,” she tossed her hands up again.

“I know, I’m moving, calm down,”

Pete huffed, squeezing past her to sit beside him. He handed over the popcorn with a flourish, put the soda in the cup holder between them. “You good?”

Kao nodded, reached to move the drink so it was in his cup holder and not between them. When Pete gave him a funny look, he put his hand, palm up, on the arm rest instead, hoping Pete would take the hint. Since he was his brilliant boyfriend, he slipped his fingers between his, squeezing gently as he rotated to be more comfortable. If he looked up, he’d see Sandee snickering into Thada’s shoulder while June made a ridiculous face down the row at them. But he didn’t look up because he didn’t have to, he knew them too well.

The previews before the movie started and the lights dimmed a little, with that came a couple threats from a few seats away about what would happen to them if they started making out or were excessively disgusting. Those were met with a glare from Pete, strong enough to make June sit back quiet in his seat. When he turned back to him though his eyes were warm, and he was smiling softly. Kao couldn’t help smiling back.

“I’m sorry they crashed our date babe,” he whispered, reaching to steal a handful of popcorn from the bag on his lap. “I shouldn’t have said anything about the movie today during our break…so I guess, I owe you a new date,”

Kao felt his smile grow some more, “you do,”

Pete smirked a little, brows jumping in amusement at the way he was teasing him. When the movie started, it was actually something he wanted to see so they only kissed for a few seconds before Kao pushed him back, saying he didn’t want to miss anything. Pete pouted but sat back, enjoying that he could at least wrap an arm around him and halfway through the movie, Kao set the popcorn on the ground so he could readjust, listing sideways to lay his head on Pete’s shoulder. He felt him press a couple kisses to the top of his head, smiling as he snuggled closer and enjoyed the rest of the movie with Pete’s warmth around him.

And afterward when they all went out for ice cream, debating going for drink too, Kao decided that even though it wasn’t quality time the way he’d intended with just Pete, this wasn’t bad either. All of their lives were changing soon, and he’d had Pete to himself all week long, it wasn’t the end of the world to have to share him for a little while. Especially if it was with people who loved them and supported them and understood what being a world apart was going to feel like for them. Sandee felt it, Thada got it and June, though not in a relationship currently, knew what it meant to adapt. While he stole bites from Pete’s ice cream, listening to June’s ridiculous story, he couldn’t help feeling thankful for the wonderful people he’d found and surrounded himself with. In this life he felt about as lucky as he imagined a person could.

xxx

Since their last attempt at watching a movie sort of got crashed, Kao figured he’d have better luck at Pete’s house, just the two of them. An afternoon spent watching movies together, something they loved doing, sounded great. He knew Pete’s dad wouldn’t be home for a while anyway, so it really seemed like the perfect plan.

Which is how he found himself now, with Pete’s back pressed to his chest as he reclined back against him. Both their legs were stretched out down the length of the couch while Pete fed him bites of popcorn every so often and Kao kept his attention divided evenly between the boyfriend laying against him and the movie that he’d seen a dozen times before.

Pete tapped his hip, hand raised afterward for the drink that was closer to Kao, he handed it to him, waiting for him to finish so he could put it back on the table.

“Want some,” Pete asked holding the bottle up for him, his head rolled back and forth a little where it was on his shoulder.

“No thanks,” he squeezed him a little, smiling when Pete groaned.

“Do you ever get sick of watching the same movies babe?” he asked next, head tipping back.

Kao mulled that over, “no, sometimes I like not having to pay too much attention,”

Pete laughed, “I _love_ not paying attention!”

Kao pinched him.

“Ow,”

Kao decided to focus back on the movie, let Pete play with his fingers where they were laced together in his lap.

It was only half over when Pete’s dad came home, saying something about his clients cancelling on him. Pete wiggled a little, pressing closer to him with the movement and forcing him deeper into the couch like he was attempting to keep him stranded. Kao took the hint, let himself relax into the warmth of the couch as Pete’s dad wandered into the room. He caught the giddy way he was smiling at them, like he knew he’d crashed their date. At least they weren’t making out or anything. He did wonder though, if the universe was conspiring against him, maybe he and Pete weren’t meant to watch a movie in peace. Or perhaps he was just being greedy, he had spent lots of time with Pete lately. Uninterrupted, wonderfully peaceful time with him, just the two of them. He could hardly be upset when he thought about that.

Though Pete offering for his dad to join them, saying he’d seen this movie before and hadn’t missed much, caught his attention and floored him.

Kao was about to say something to that when his dad did instead.

“I don’t want to disturb your quality time,” he said, laughing quietly to himself as he moved towards the hallway, “If you watch that Cops movie later, let me know, I like that one,” he laughed the rest of the way towards his office where he shut himself in for the remainder of the afternoon.

Thankfully, Pete didn’t have anything to say to the quality time comment while Kao wondered if his dad wasn’t perhaps the most observant, in tune person in the world. Or maybe he’d just recognized how Kao was trying to be better and noticed the signs of a committed partner when he saw it. Or, he didn’t mean anything by it at all, other than the fact that Kao and Pete were spending the afternoon together, alone, watching a movie. Some things didn’t have to amount to anything, he knew that and of all the people in their lives, Pete’s dad had known the longest and loved them the entire time. Letting that go, so he couldn’t hang onto it longer, Kao tucked his nose into the back of Pete’s neck, kissed gently at his skin till Pete told him to knock it off.

“Why?”

“Because I know you and I know you don’t want to start something with my dad down the hall,”

Kao weighed that out, against Pete’s warmth and proximity. He kissed him again, till Pete made a noise in his throat, flipped over to wrestle him down the couch, hovered over him with a look in his eye that made Kao feel tingly all over. As he descended on him, Kao threaded his fingers into Pete’s hair, pulled him closer, and kept him there with a leg wrapped around one of Pete’s.

The movie continued on without them while 100% of Kao’s focus dialed in on his boyfriend and he devoted all his energy to making the most of their quality time together.

xxx

Kao knew that Pete was putting off packing for a reason. He didn’t know the specifics, he could just tell he wasn’t doing it for a reason. So, Kao decided to help him. Not because he wanted him to pack up a chunk of his life so he could leave but because he had to, this was happening and him not doing it wasn’t going to change it any.

He found his suitcase in the back of his closet, set it on the bed to either start ironing and folding his clothes for him or to at least encourage him to do it while he set a few other bags out for Pete to decide what pictures and books he wanted to take with him. 

The look Pete gave him when he saw the suitcase spelled trouble for Kao and the fate of him getting him to pack.

“Is this how you want to spend one of your last days with me babe?” He’d stood in the doorway, with his arms crossed looking all sorts of displeased.

“Well, no but I want to make sure you have everything and don’t have to worry, come here,”

Pete groaned his way into the room.

“Do you want to pick what to pack and I’ll iron and fold? Or would you rather iron?”

Pete rolled his eyes, “I definitely don’t want to iron,”

“Okay,” Kao pulled him close as he stepped away from the suitcase on the bed, kissed Pete quick before guiding him gently to the closet and then settled on the floor.

“You know, our housekeeper could do this?”

“No, you rely on her too much, come on,” he waited patiently with his legs crossed while Pete decided he wasn’t going to win and headed into his closet, bringing him a stack of pants, a few nice dress pairs, a few khakis and a couple pairs of jeans.

He grumbled on his way back to the closet, “don’t know why you want to do this…we could go do something instead, weirdo,”

Kao laughed while he unfolded the first pair to examine the state of them.

“You have to pack anyway Pete, I might as well help. And we’re still spending time together, we can do something after, okay?”

“Okay,” Pete agreed, though he still didn’t sound thrilled, “can we talk about something that isn’t my internship though…I think I’m talked out,”

“Sure, you pick,”

“We could talk about _your_ internship,”

Kao laughed but looked up when he didn’t hear Pete laughing too. He saw him watching him, a few empty hangers in one hand.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your internship? I know you said you were cool to just work for a bit, but you could do an internship and tutor on the weekend,”

“Right Pete, and where would I do this magical internship that’d be fine with my super late application?”

“My dad’s company,”

Kao blinked, felt his chest tighten a little at the implication of the favoritism Pete’s dad was willing to play with him. He cleared his throat before saying, “No,”

“Yes, he asked me to ask you babe,”

“No Pete, you didn’t even want to work there, why would I want to?”

“Because it’s still a really good opportunity and he loves you and wants to give you a chance if you want it?” Pete took a breath, “also I think, since I didn’t agree to work there, you’re the next best thing. And by that, I mean, clearly, you’re the smarter one and he wanted you all along anyway,”

Kao shook his head, “shut up,”

“It’s true,”

He let them lapse into silence because he didn’t know what to say anyway. He knew in his gut that he shouldn’t. Wasn’t it a bad thing that he was dating the boss’s son and he got him a job? That sounded like a bad thing. But his dad wouldn’t have offered if he was worried, he was all about professionalism. If he didn’t have a problem with it, then maybe Kao shouldn’t. He’d have to talk to him about it though, to know for sure and to get his side. He wouldn’t put it past Pete to have coaxed his dad into this. But he also wouldn’t put it past his dad to have agreed. They were so alike it was scary.

He cleared his throat, feeling emotional over this. “I’ll think about it and talk to him,”

Pete’s previous displeasure over packing was completely gone. He looked too excited about the potential here to be upset about packing up his life and moving on.

“Cool,”

And just like that, that particular conversation was over while Pete moved on to other things, like some weird thing that June had retweeted earlier and why he’d done it at all. Kao was just content to listen to him talk, happy to refold his clothes for him and put them in his suitcase neatly, knowing it’d never be this tidy again but at least for a little bit, it’d all be right where it should be.

“We have to get you adapters too, before you leave,”

“Kao,” he groaned, flopping backwards beside his full suitcase, “I thought we weren’t going to talk about the internship?”

Kao huffed, “sorry. But you need adapters babe, you won’t be able to charge your phone or anything if you don’t have them,”

“My dad probably has some,”

“Then you better ask him for them, or have him look for them,”

“Yes sir,”

Kao shook his head, ignored him. He didn’t seem to be in the best mood today. He got up to pace to his desk, “which pictures do you want to take?”

Pete rolled his head backwards so he could see him, “Just the picture frame you made me,”

Kao felt warm hearing that, “really just that one?”

“Well, I’m tempted to take all of them, but I figured this is a good opportunity to exercise some self-control,”

Kao smirked, made for the bed so he could lean over him, “is that what you call this?”

“Yeah, otherwise I’d be begging you to come with me, trying to put you in my suitcase or asking you to convince me not to go. But I haven’t, see, self-control,”

“Got it,” Kao leaned down to kiss his forehead, “well, lucky for you and your self-control, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here since you said you would come back to me…so I’ll wait,”

Pete rolled over when he backed up, stared after him, “Promise?”

“Promise,”

Pete looked completely content at that, didn’t complain too much when Kao kissed him to convince him to pack for a little longer. When they’d finished, or reached a point where Pete was too over the task to continue, they curled up together in Pete’s bed instead. With their legs and fingers tangled, Kao’s head on the pillow beside Pete’s, he reminded himself that this wasn’t going to be forever. Pete would have an incredible experience working for such an amazing company and then he’d come back. They were each other’s lifelong plan; the future would bring jobs and maybe relocation, but they were both in agreement that it’d happen together. They wanted to be with one another more than they wanted to do things that would keep them apart. Kao had to keep telling himself that. Had to because he needed it and it made him happy and kept him from freaking out. And maybe, while Pete was enjoying his internship, Kao could work with his dad, or see what he had to offer. It didn’t sound bad at all.

“Can I tell you something?” Pete asked.

Kao tipped his head back, rolled onto his side to face him. “Of course,”

Pete smiled, “This week, spending all this time with you, has been awesome,”

Kao reached out to touch the side of his face, “It has, hasn’t it?”

“The only way it could get better was if someone’s wonderful boyfriend planned a nice dinner to make up for the date that got crashed the other day,”

Kao nuzzled closer to him, “would that happen to be my wonderful boyfriend?”

“Maybe,” Pete shrugged a tiny bit while he moved into him, bodies pressed together from toe to chest.

“Where are we going?”

“That Shabu Shabu place you like, I know it’s kind of casual but-”

“-I love that place!” he reassured him while brushing their noses together. A quick look over at his bedside table showed that it was only a little after 3, definitely not time for dinner. But there was time for some other things. Kao sat up, which made Pete follow him, face tucked against the back of his neck while Kao suggested, “shower babe?”

Pete made an amused noise, “a shower with you? Huh, wet, soapy boyfriend who’ll probably let me help him wash his hair, or staying here, while you’re there,” he pointed to the bathroom, “wet and soapy and needing someone to wash your hair…that’s a tough one,”

Kao smiled, stood from the bed with some difficulty, Pete’s voice and the implications of showering together, were making his knees feel weak.

“It shouldn’t be,” he looked over his shoulder at him, smiling brighter at the way Pete’s whole face was lit up, smile giddy.

“You’re right baby, as usual,” Pete hopped up to follow him, arms snaking around his waist while walking them into the bathroom, steps slightly unsteady from how close together they were but Kao wouldn’t have willingly put a breath of space between them for anything. And he continued to refuse any sort of separation as they staggered into the shower and fumbled with the water, with the soap and how to effectively wash up in this state. Though there was nothing super effective about showering with Pete. He was easily distracted but also very goal-oriented, it just depended on the goal he chose to go for. At that particular moment it seemed Kao was the goal and dinner was a long-gone concept. Right now, Pete seemed laser focused on him and nothing else.

Honestly, seeing that soon he wouldn’t get to be the sole object of his attention, Kao didn’t mind this too much.

And later when they were willing to tear themselves away, they made it to dinner. His attention over their food was still undivided and consuming, happy to feed him and talk to him about anything he wanted. Kao didn’t mind this too much either.

xxx

Just like all the other tests before, Kao could build a case for Pete’s love language being quality time, he loved being with him, responded really well to alone time and Kao’s undivided attention. But more than that, like Kao had found, he wondered if it had less to do with any specific language and more to do with the fact that he finally had a proper boyfriend. He figured that Pete liked that the most and responded best to it because for the first time Pete had someone he’d dreamed about, who loved him the way he loved them, everything he felt was reciprocated mutually. In a relationship, Kao had realized there wasn’t a better feeling than loving and knowing you were loved in return.

So, maybe Pete’s love language was quality time or maybe it was gifts or physical touch or acts of service or words of affirmation or maybe it was a combination of a few. Or better yet, maybe it was having a boyfriend who adored him and wasn’t afraid to show that. Kao hoped so because he was definitely up to being the kind of boyfriend who adored Pete and wasn’t scared anymore, he was up to being what Pete deserved.

Kao still felt he had a long way to go but he was closer today than he was a few months ago, he’d keep learning and adapting and being good to Pete every day because they were worth it, and they deserved this.

Kao knew that and he had no intention of ever going back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I copped out big time right? This is the last chapter! I hope it wrapped up alright. It was partially me, thinking i wouldn't be dedicated enough to ever crank out a final chapter and my indecision over which, based on the story, would be Pete's love language. So that's that. I hope you enjoyed it anyway and thank you a thousand times for reading this! xx


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